Tonight’s guest blog post is brought to you by novelist Seumas Gallacher.
This daft old Scottish Jurassic’s take on Awards to pals on the Sosyal Netwurkin circuit…
like most things in this world, it started out as a modest little exercise… a kinda by-product of Building The Platform… that constant activity that web-bound quill-scrapers are exhorted to be involved in… reaching out on the Sosyal Netwurkin channels… the idea is to know and to be known by others ‘out there’… so far, it’s Wurkin very well for me… thankfully, Twitter can be made a tad less daunting to manage by the introduction of (Free!) Apps such as Tweetdeck… that marvellous App enables the countless Twitter relationships to be segregated under various headings… ‘Personal’, ‘Writers’, ‘Publishers’, ‘Pals’, and so on, splitting them into convenient columns… Tweetdeck Taxonomy Triumphs!… even if ye have thousands of followers, yer ability to focus is easily achieved… what I began to do was to write down longhand… (emb’dy remember how to do that stuff?… with a pen and paper?)…
All the nice folks who mentioned me or Tweeted me with an (at) message… they were the initial bedrock data base for my weekly Awards… that longhand list grew into several hundreds and continues to grow daily… at first I could give out my Awards in one shot on Twitter, batching up the addresses in slugs of, say half a dozen tweets… that covers about up to 50 names in one tweeting broadcast session… then repeating that every hour until I exhausted all the names… when it grew too voluminous, I split the exercise over four days, so I can still manage a coupla hundred names each day… yes, it’s a lot of work, but I Luv It, coz it keeps me Connected... as to the Awards themselves, some of you who have been regular recipients of these will see the Awards label changes every week… whatever jumps out of my little grey cells .., this week it’s the ‘Feelgood Awards’… but we’ve been going for almost a year on it now, and we’ve had all sorts of nomenclature… ‘Prime Awards’, ‘Sunshine Awards’, ‘Top Dog Awards’, ‘Apex Awards’, ‘Tw-Oscar Awards’, … ye get the idea, right?… some folks (such as Matron around here), tell me I’m mad… well, that may be the case… however, others in their droves have told me how much they appreciate the acknowledgements … if we’re honest about it, most of we Lads and Lassies of Blog Land welcome affirmation… that we’re part of the great big Luvvin family of Writers on the Web... loads of others have told me they use my weekly Awards list in lieu of Friday Follow (FF) messages, and click to follow the names… great! …that benefits everybody involved… so, if ye wanna be part of my immersion in this gig, let me know and I’ll add yer name to the Awards list! …meantime, true to her calling, here comes Matron with that bluudy syringe.. see yeez later …
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I loved it. Thank you, Seumas!
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Seumas Gallacher was born in the cradle of the Govan shipyards in Glasgow in the so-called ‘bad old days’ which were really the greatest of days, where everybody was a real character of note.
An early career as a trainee banker led to a spell in London, where his pretence to be a missionary converting the English fell on deaf ears.
Escape to the Far East in 1980 opened up access to cultures and societies on a global scale, eventually bringing the realisation that the world is simply one large extended village.
The lifelong desire to write resulted in The Violin Man’s Legacy, the first in a planned series.
Seumas’ sequel novel, Vengeance Wears Black was launched on Kindle in early July 2012.
The third, Savage Payback, is work-in-progress with at least two other books to follow in the same vein. Kindle downloads on his novels exceed 60,000 to date.
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The Violin Man’s Legacy – Short Synopsis
Together they begin to unravel a complex web of corruption. The twin spiders at the centre of this web are the Chan brothers, leaders of one of Hong Kong’s most ruthless and powerful triad gangs.
Jack Calder is an ex-SAS soldier working with former colleagues at ISP, a specialist security firm. He is sent to investigate a murderous diamond heist in Utrecht but swiftly learns that there is a very strong Far East connection. He then travels to Hong Kong where he meets the glamorous chief of ISP’s local bureau, May-Ling.
The trail of death and mayhem coils across Europe, Hong Kong and South America until all the scores are settled.
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Vengeance Wears Black – Short Synopsis
Jack Calder and his former SAS colleagues at ISP, a specialist security firm, are saved from certain death when an ex-Gurkha is killed smothering a deadly grenade thrown into a lunchtime Chinese restaurant in the West End of London. They learn that murderous turf wars are raging between Asian Triads and Eastern European mobsters vying for control of international fiefdoms of drug smuggling, people trafficking, prostitution and money laundering.
An unexpected visit from the highest levels of international law enforcement offers Jack and the ISP team a means to use their black operations skills to wreak a ruthless retaliation against the drug lords.
Unlikely partners emerge in their onslaught against the gangs as the warring criminal factions threaten an unholy alliance to repel them. The pursuit spins across Europe, Turkey and North Africa before a final reckoning.
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Seumas and his books can be found via:
Links for The Violin Man’s Legacy
Links for Vengeance Wears Black
This post was originally shown on Seumas’ blog: http://seumasgallacher.com/2013/05/03/this-daft-old-scottish-jurassics-take-on-awards-to-pals-on-the-sosyal-netwurkin-circuit-tbsu
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
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Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which have now dropped to weekend mornings only, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (670+) interviews from this blog are there as well so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with mystery author Price McNaughton and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/author-interview-with-mystery-writer-price-mcnaughton.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blog, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, competitions, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, exercises, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, free verse, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku, haiku poem, hendecasyllabic, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, humorous, humour, iambic pentameter, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, pantoum, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poem, poet, poetry, poetry collection, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry magazine, poetry slams, present tense, Price McNaughton, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, sonnet, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, tanka, terza rima, travel memoir, travel writer, triolet, Twitter, vampire, villanelle, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, writing workshop, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which have now dropped to weekend mornings only, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (670+) interviews from this blog are there as well so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with science-fiction adventure novelist Erren Grey Wolf and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/04/05/author-interview-with-science-fiction-adventure-novelist-erren-grey-wolf.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Erren Grey Wolf, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, future tense, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, past tense, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, present tense, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person point of view, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Tonight’s guest blog post is brought to you by short story author Jane Risdon.
Song-writing
I’ve been around music and songwriters – creators – all my life. I married a musician who is also a songwriter so I know about the creative processes. From the time a song finds voice on a piece of paper, to the finished record in a store, I have been involved. My husband and I managed songwriters, artists, and record producers so, although I am not a songwriter, I know about song-writing: having said that I have added to songs, written a few lines here and there when someone has been stuck. Picking great songs has been my living for more years than I care to count.
Song-writers are born in my experience. You are either gifted or you are not. Yes, the basics of how to structure the song, how to ensure it is not too long (for radio and a single), how to make sure the chorus has a good hook and that what we call the ‘middle eight,’ – the bridge where the song changes pitch and momentum, comes at the right time, adding interest and ‘feel’, can be taught. Most songs follow the verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle eight, format. It can be explained why you shouldn’t have long instrumental introductions for example, that the song should start as soon as possible – four bars is enough – or the guys at radio won’t play it. Most songs need to get to the chorus within about a minute, the bridge as soon as possible after the second chorus, and so when writing a song, the songwriter needs to have an idea of the structure and length of the song when music is added. The song needs to build to add interest and then end on a high leaving the listener feeling they want more. Just like an author might end a chapter with a ‘cliff-hanger’. The song should evoke emotions and a reaction. Three to three-and-a-half-minutes is the preferred length for a single. Radio stations know where they are with the track and can feature their adverts into a programme based on the number of minutes taken up with the music and the DJ chat.
A song written for a single should not be an excuse to showcase someone’s drumming ability with a drum solo stuck in for no reason. It is not a place for the guitarist to go off on a long solo either just for the hell of it. Save that for the concept album. The single is a ‘taster’ – it is the ‘come and buy me’ trailer for the album. The singer is there to sell the song. The song will sell the singer.
Not all song-writers are musicians and so they might need to collaborate with a ‘composer’ – such a stuffy word: someone to put the words to music. This does not always happen this way round. Sometimes music comes first and the lyrics are written to fit the music. I have been lucky in that all the artists (singers and bands), I’ve worked with have written their own lyrics and music in the main. Most of the record producers I’ve worked with are also songwriters and musicians so their approach to song-writing is very different to the approach of those who cannot produce or write their own music.
The songwriter, if he / she is serious about making a success of their career, has to be in tune with trends. Of course it would be wonderful to be an innovator and change the face of music with songs and production such as The Beatles for example. But the most successful songwriters aim at a market, knowing their strengths. If they are not the artist, but write for other singers, then they tailor their songs to suit the market, the singers they want to perform their songs and most of all, Radio. Radio has been until recently, the ultimate entity to please. If Radio ‘doesn’t like it’, the song doesn’t fit their station identity, and they will not play a record. Of course, things are different now with downloads and every songwriter, artist, and performer can release their own songs and by-pass radio and all the conventional methods of getting heard. Yet, I still maintain the same rules apply to the whole process of creation. If the song doesn’t have a strong storyline, a great catchy hook which leaves the listener wanting more, there will not be a long career for either the songwriter or the performer.
Working with songwriters on a daily basis for more years than I care to remember has been a fascinating experience and no two writers work the same way. I have worked with a fourteen- and sixteen-year-old who also produced their own first album and virtually nothing was ever altered, even when the record company got involved and sent someone from their Artist and Repertoire department to ‘over-see’ the final mixes, she couldn’t come up with anything to improve the songs or the recording. She found it hard to believe that two youngsters had met every night after school, to write songs, and that she – the fourteen year old – wrote the lyrics and her boyfriend wrote the music. She was a singer of extraordinary talent and he was a multi-instrumentalist who could play every instrument they eventually had on their album. She was also a musician, and played guitar and piano as well. He also did all the engineering and production on the album. Sometimes she would write a lyric and he would come up with the melody and tunes using his keyboards to write the actual music. They would record it in the studio where he worked after school, the owner allowing them to ‘mess around’ as he called it, ‘in downtime’. They were born songwriters. Not created. These two went on to have several successes in the USA and also wrote songs and music for television, movies and later, other artists. Something they’d never dreamed of when collaborating in their school uniforms.
Some of our artists worked with major songwriters collaborating on their albums since record companies love to have a ‘name’ songwriter or producer work on some of the tracks, and possibly a first single, especially for an unknown or up-and-coming artist. Sitting in a room watching someone work on songs for an unknown (as yet), artist, who has written songs for Streisand, Bowie, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston for example, is an awesome experience. More often than not, they start off on a piano or guitar, just tinkering around and, if they have someone else write the lyrics, this person might hum along, pen and paper at the ready, scribbling down ideas and words: sometimes randomly. Words and music come as if from nowhere – I’ve always maintained that. Just as an author sits with a blank page or screen and suddenly ideas flow and the words come, so it is with songwriters. A couple of words turn into a possible chorus, long before a verse is thought of. The song might be a lot of dummy words, such as The Beatles used to write initially, just to get the flow and rhythm of the piece, and then the real work begins on honing words to create a story. One important thing to remember about lyrics; they do not need to rhyme and so it is not necessary to turn the song into a poem by having the ends of each line rhyme. However, simple is always best. No long flashy words.
The song may come quickly, in minutes, or it might take hours. There is no telling. No-one can tell if it is a hit or not until it has been recorded and produced, but there is a little tingle sometimes which indicates it might well be a winner.
Knowing the market and the targeted performer helps a great deal. If you write rock songs and have someone in mind, who is already established, then tailor the song to suit their music, usual production and of course, the vocalist. It is no good writing an R&B ballad for a heavy rock band and from the female perspective, if the lead singer is a male. Diane Warren, who has also written songs for my artists, is one of the most prolific and successful female songwriters of all time. She had her female artists in mind when she wrote the huge R&B and Pop ballads which made them successful. Dolly Parton has written some of the biggest hits ever, not just for herself in Country, but in Pop and R&B, and she collaborated with The Bee Gees and others, on songs you might not have associated her or them with. Versatility is the key if you are going to write songs for others to perform. A great songwriter can turn their hand to any genre.
Of course if you write for yourself or your band, then you will need to find your own ‘voice’ and identity which you will become associated with. It is no good sounding like everyone else and writing lyrics which don’t relate to your own musical genre and generation. Some of my artists wrote their own songs and these were part of their image and who they were as artists, and where they fitted in their musical genre. I cannot imagine any other performers covering their songs, unless there is a new wave of Thrash Metal! However, a great song is a great song and can be performed by anyone if re-arranged to suit their style – so if you write a song which you think is a rock song and then find that it sounds just as great as a ballad as well, or with a pop edge, then you are indeed lucky. A good song should stand up in its barest form, without instrumentation and production. In all probability your song will outlive you. Rod Stewart has recorded some of the great songs of the twentieth century giving them a new lease of life, and songwriters like Gershwin and Berlin would be thrilled to bits I am sure, to hear their material given a complete make-over.
This is not intended to be the definitive ‘how to write a song’ article. I don’t think there is any right way to go about it anymore than there is a right or wrong way to create a piece of art, or write a book. I do know a great song when I hear it or see it written down in its rawest state, and I know a bad one for the same reasons. Production and arrangement has a lot to do with it as well as the performance, and these can either enhance or ruin a great song. Getting the best out of a song with arrangement, performance and production is a whole different ball game. There is the belief that you cannot shine ****, but believe me, it is not totally impossible. The same applies to a bad singer or musician – there are ways and means. If forced into getting a decent record out of someone who cannot sing or play their instruments, it can be done. Thank great record producers and technology for that.
If you are thinking about writing a song, do consider all the points I have made and then try it. Decide what sort of song you want to write, what genre and market you’re aiming at and whom you might like to sing it, and then have a go. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Besides, it is great fun and very satisfying, even if you are the only person who ever gets to sing it or hear it.
(c) Jane Risdon 2013
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Thank you, Jane. I’ve been considering writing songs for ages so this is staying near me when I do. 
For the last thirty years Jane Risdon has worked in the International Music Industry as an Artiste Manager, Producer and Music Publisher with her husband who was a professional musician when they met in their teens.
Together they have discovered, mentored and guided the careers of Singers, Bands, Songwriters and Producers all over Europe, the USA and SE Asia as well as the UK, resulting in Chart hits, TV and Movie Soundtracks and numerous other successes, including launching the very first Industry Showcases at the London Hippodrome in the mid 1980’s.
She has lived and worked in Singapore, Taiwan, Germany, USA, as well as Europe and England – working with English, American, European and Chinese artists in all genres of music and in various languages including Mandarin and Cantonese.
Jane has been writing since childhood and has had articles published in the Music Press. Her main genre is Crime writing; mysteries and thrillers – usually with a twist in the tale. At the moment she is writing a crime story, ‘Ms Birdsong Investigates’, which features an ex-MI5 Officer and her new life in a rural Oxfordshire Village. This novel should be completed sometime in 2013.
In addition to this novel she has a series of stories which she describes as Character Based Gentle Humour, called ‘God’s Waiting Room,’ which she hopes will be completed by 2014.
Jane is also co-writing a novel with an award-winning author of over 28 books. It is a change of direction for Jane and as of February 2013 she has completed her parts of the book. Her co-author is completing her parts and then it is off to the agent, possibly mid 2013.
With numerous Short Stories and several Flash Fiction pieces under her belt she is a prolific writer who is yet to publish a book in her own right. However, she has had several short stories published for Charity during the last year including her story, ‘The Look,’ in ‘I am Woman Anthology Volume 1,’ in aid of Breakthrough, Women for Women and Women’s Aid and two stories, ‘The Debt Collector’ and ‘The Ghost in the Privy,’ published in the anthology, ‘Telling Tales,’ in aid of The Norfolk Hospice.
Jane also has written a chapter for a new book project, which features several authors all writing a chapter each, without any idea of what the other has written. She found this great fun and looks forward to reading the finished book. This project is on-going and until all writers have contributed it is unsure when it will be ready for release.
In addition to everything else going on in 2013, she is also writing a Short Story for inclusion in yet another anthology later in 2013. This will be a crime/mystery anthology in aid of a Charity, yet to be disclosed.
Jane has a Blog which is gaining a large following and she writes about things that interest her, her love of photography – always photos to look at – and also anything else which takes her fancy. Many of these articles have humorous content. She is often invited by other authors to be the Guest Blogger on their Blogs.
Jane would like to thank Morgen Bailey for all her support and for publishing her Flash Fiction stories and Short stories, and for inviting her to Guest on her Blog. She wishes her much success with her own novels and Blogs.
**
And yours, thank you, Jane. You can find out more about Jane and her writing from…
***
If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. There are other options listed on http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Jane Risdon, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing my blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and ninety-fourth, is of novelist Cherry Radford.
Cherry Radford was a piano teacher at the Royal Ballet Junior School, a keyboard player in a band, and a research optometrist at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London.
She lives near Brighton, England.
Flamenco Baby is her second novel; her first, Men Dancing, was published in 2011.
*
And now from the author herself:
I always wanted to be an author when I grew up – but growing up took a heck of a long time. I started out well – at six I was making little sellotaped books, and by the time I was eleven the school encouraged my mother to send one of the stories to a magazine. In hindsight that wasn’t a good idea; I’m not sure I ever got over my rejection letter from Pony Weekly! And I was reaching an age where I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about anymore.
So I switched to the piano and composing, went off to music college, gave lessons and joined a band. Much later – don’t ask me why – I went back to uni to study visual science, and on into research. I was writing a lot – but only within the strict rules of science.
Then one day I got what I’d always been waiting for: an idea for a novel (see my website for how!). I mulled it over for a few months, and then – when I was abroad on a scientific conference for heaven’s sake – I suddenly had to start. Perhaps I’d seen it coming, because in the bag with the cures for unexpected afflictions I’d packed a little notebook with an attached pen.
It was like discovering a secret garden – I just wanted to be there all the time. I never doubted that I’d reach the end; it wasn’t a case of hard work or self-discipline, I just had to follow the natural course of the thing. It took only six months to write Men Dancing – although three times that to arrive at a final draft and be accepted for publication.
I had terrible post book partum blues – until I started writing Flamenco Baby (published February 2013). I’m now working on a third novel inspired by music, dance and hispanophilia. So finally I’m back where I started – but with someone else sticking the books together.
**
I love it! Thank you, Cherry. You can find more about Cherry and her writing via…
Flamenco Baby (February 2013)
“A lively tale, with all the emotion, darkness and humour of flamenco” (Sarah Bird, bestselling author of The Flamenco Academy)
Men Dancing (October 2011)
“A great read for Strictly fans” (Sir Bruce Forsyth, host of BBC Television’s Strictly Come Dancing)
***
If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/submission-information/opportunities-on-this-blog (the spotlights are option (a)) or email me for details.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, Cherry Radford, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which have now dropped to weekend mornings only, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (660+) interviews from this blog are there as well so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with contemporary novelist Stacey Covington-Lee and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/author-interview-with-contemporary-novelist-stacey-covington-lee.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, Stacey Covington-Lee, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and seventy-ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with science fiction / fantasy writer Peter F Hamilton. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Peter. Thank you for joining me today. Please tell us how you came to be a writer.
Peter: Almost by accident. It was one of those thoughts in the back of my head that I’d like to give it a try one day. So when I was 27 I did just that. It took another three years to get published, though.
Morgen: You clearly enjoyed writing enough though to persevere. There’s a Wikipedia page about you (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_F._Hamilton), which says you’re best known for writing ‘space opera’, could you please explain that genre.
Peter: Space Opera tends to be about huge conflicts in the far future, which an accurate enough description. I don’t like the idea of trying to classify everything in the genre, though.
Morgen: Me neither; I write a bit of (almost) everything. Have you considered other genres, perhaps under a pseudonym?
Peter: I’ve just finished writing three children’s fantasy books, and they’ll be published under my name.
Morgen: It is hard enough getting established in one name so I don’t blame you. You have had 18 novels, a novella and over 20 short stories published to-date, do you have any favourites or your books / stories or characters? If any of them were made into a film, which actors would you choose?
Peter: The favourite is always the current one. If any of the Commonwealth universe books were filmed, I think Grace Parks would make a great Paula Myo.
Morgen: I’d not heard of Grace so Googled her (thank you Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Park_(actress)) but then I’ve not seen the programmes she’s been in, which doesn’t help. You’ve written series and standalones, do you write any of the series books to be read as standalones?
Peter: My trilogies are effectively one story that has to be split into three volumes from practical reasons. I don’t think it’s a good idea to read the second without reading the first – that’s also why none of them have ‘what happened before’ sections at the start.
Morgen: I know it’s not the same but I never used to read prologues until I was involved in a prologue / epilogue debate so read the prologue of the next book I started and it did make the book feel more complete. Are your books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Peter: I think most of them are available in ebook format. And my UK publisher (Tor / Macmillan) has them as DRM free, which was a great step forward. I do have a Kindle, but my reading is split 50 50 with paper and ebooks right now.
Morgen: Very few of the authors I’ve interviewed have said they only read eBooks and the split for most is about the same as yours. There’s an announcement on your website that your book ‘Great North Road’ (which one of your website guests has said “blends sci-fi with crime, horror, doomed romance, and a bit of political / action thriller”) is available as an audiobook on Audible. Were you involved in that at all?
Peter: Several of my books are on Audible. Apart from helping with pronunciation (where I can) my involvement is minimal.
Morgen: You have various fan sites dedicated to you / your writing (some listed on your http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/index.php?page=Links page), are you involved in them at all?
Peter: They’re run by fans, which is very kind of them to spend so much time looking after them. I help to a small degree.
Morgen: They clearly enjoy doing that. Authors can be quite easily anonymous. Have you ever been recognised when you’re not at a literary event?
Peter: Thankfully not.
Morgen: <laughs> Have you ever been tempted to self-publish anything you’ve written that’s not yet been traditionally published?
Peter: That day might well come. There are some ideas for books that aren’t quite SF that I’d like to get out there. The trouble is finding the time to write them.
Morgen: That’s the trouble with being an author these days; there are so many aspects to life that means we never have enough time for the actual writing. You were at the London Expo Comic Con in October 2012, how important are live events to you as an author?
Peter: I enjoy meeting readers at conventions. I do use Facebook but a face to face (or interview like this) is more is more personal.
Morgen: I’m delighted to accepted my invitation, and of course I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me. The next three questions are actually from one of your readers, Kevin Machin, (a writing friend who asked me to invite you actually). Thank you, Kevin…
Kevin: In your Confederation and Commonwealth sagas, for example, how do you keep track of the huge casts of characters? Do you ever get them mixed up between the different universes?
Peter: Not between universes – not yet anyway. I have extensive notes and chapter outlines which prevents me from mixing them up, and if I do the copy editor usually saves me.
Kevin: When creating a multi-volume story, do you plan the entire thing out first, or is it more of a write-by-the-seat-of-the-pants thing?
Peter: I have to have it planned out. I spend months developing the worlds and characters before actually starting the book.
Kevin: What would be your number one piece of advice for a wannabe SF writer?
Peter: Develop your idea as much as you can, you have to know what you’re going to say. And don’t try to write what you think other people want, this is your book.
Morgen: Absolutely. Thank you, Peter. Artwork for your genre is famously stunning, how do the artists that you work with translate your writing to graphic art?
Peter: I have no artistic ability of my own whatsoever. So I usually provide them with a section which I think will make a good visual, then answer questions about small details. After that I stand back and admire what they produce.
Morgen: ‘Admire’ for sure. You have different cover artists for different countries (UK, France, US etc), is there a reason for this?
Peter: Different publishers. It’s that simple.
Morgen: Do you choose the titles of your books? How important do you think they are?
Peter: The titles are all my own. They’re important, but not critical.
Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?
Peter: I’m doing the editing on the children’s books, and finishing the notes for The Abyss Beyond Dreams, which is book one (of two) of the Fallers – set in the Commonwealth universe.
Morgen: I’m sure Kevin will be looking forward to that one when he reads this interview. You mentioned one of your characters, Paula Myo, earlier – do you have a method for creating your characters?
Peter: Not a conscious one, they develop in tandem with the plot.
Morgen: You’ve said that you’re currently editing your children’s books – do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
Peter: I revise on a daily basis. But I always need editing.
Morgen: I think every author does, although I would imagine it must get easier having so many books under your proverbial belt. Do you have to do much research?
Peter: If there’s a technology or idea which features heavily in a book, I’ll research as much as I can. The trick is in knowing about the subject without letting those details flood the book, the reader doesn’t need to know the tiniest components of everything.
Morgen: They don’t and I’ve heard some say that they’ve read books where it feels as if the author has “shown off” with all the superfluous detail they’ve included. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?
Peter: I prefer third, and all my books have been written in that so far. Some shorts have been in first person. I’ve never tried second, because none of the stories have required it, yet.
Morgen: As a fan of second person, I’m delighted to hear “yet”. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?
Peter: A lot of the old short stories are now are safely buried. I don’t think there’s anything there that will ever be resurrected.
Morgen: What a shame. Although “safely buried” does sound as if it’s the right thing. Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Peter: Not recently, thankfully. I do have the obligatory drawer-full of rejection slips from when I was beginning. When you get one, you learn what you can from it and move on.
Morgen: It’s the best way to approach them. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Peter: I have had the same agent for twenty years. I wouldn’t be without one, but I know some authors are perfectly happy to go it alone.
Morgen: We are, although I’d never say never. As well as your website (http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk), you have a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/PeterFHamilton) and you’re on Twitter (https://twitter.com/PeterFHamilton1). Do you have to do much of the marketing for your published works or indeed for yourselves as a ‘brand’?
Peter: The twitter account was set up by someone to feed from my facebook page, (which is apparently bad form) I don’t tweet myself. I try and post something every couple of weeks or so, but I don’t blog. Promotional tours are an accepted part of being an author. It sounds glamorous travelling round from city to city, but trust me, it’s not.
Morgen: I rarely travel but in the past couple of weeks I’ve been to Scotland (crime writing workshop) and London twice (doing a talk on blogging then as a guest on one of Brendan Foley’s seminars (journalism, it was fantastic)) and, although I had a great time, that’s enough for me for a while. You have a new (US) trailer for Great North Road (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrOv7qXog6I). How important do you think trailers are?
Peter: That’s the first one a publisher has done for me, and it’s very cool. How effective? I’ve no idea. Time will tell.
Morgen: It is a great trailer. Which authors did you read when you were younger and did they shape you as a writer?
Peter: The classics, Clarke, Asimov, Niven, May. Everything that came out in the 70’s and early 80’s. I was inspired rather than influenced, I’d say.
Morgen: What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?
Peter: Sitting down for years at a time writing one project can be a bit of a slog by the end. But I work from home and get to see more of the kids than a lot of dads, so it’s hardly something to moan about.
Morgen: I’ve been home-based (no day job) for just over a year and it’s fantastic. I have to rent out two of my bedrooms to pay the bills but it’s definitely a fair exchange. If you had to choose a single day from your past to re-live over and over, what day would it be and why?
Peter: The day I first met my wife.
Morgen: Ahh… Is there a word, phrase or quote you like?
Peter: Niven’s: “Think of it as evolution in action.” It’s one of those I wish I’d said myself.
Morgen: I love it. What do you do when you’re not writing?
Peter: Surfing is my mid-life crisis. And my daughter is already better than me.
Morgen: <laughs> Children are usually miles ahead in terms of technology. I get away with it because I don’t have any, although my dog thinks he’s a child so I’ve learned not to let him anywhere near my gadgets. What do you think the future holds for a writer?
Peter: We’re all waiting to see where ebooks go. Personally I hope we don’t wind up with author playlists bundled with the content. I don’t think mine would impress anybody.
Morgen: Oh dear. I’m sure there are plenty of readers who would disagree. I have high hopes, certainly for the independent author, but as you said earlier, time will tell. Thank you very much, Peter, for joining me today, and thank you, Kevin for asking.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, Peter F Hamilton, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and seventy-fifth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, scriptwriters, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with children’s author Natasha Wing. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Natasha. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Natasha: I’m a children’s book writer who lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. I’ve been writing for 21 years and chose to become a writer after working at a metropolitan newspaper and an advertising agency. I wanted more creative projects and freedom.
Morgen: You write children’s books, was there a reason to choose this genre?
Natasha: While working in advertising I had one of those magical moments where another children’s book inspired me to write for children instead of consumers. Plus I love books with illustrations and the inventiveness of children’s books, so I chose to write for young kids.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date?
Natasha: I am mostly known for my Night Before series that is a twist on The Night Before Christmas. I have 16 books in that series with more on the way. I also enjoy writing biographies. An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers is about an abstract artist who lived down the street from me when I was a kid in Connecticut. I have a book about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis that is coming out in 2015, and I just finished a manuscript for the founders of the National Park Service.
Morgen: What age group do you write for?
Natasha: My audience tends to be 3 to 8 years old. I do have a middle grade being shopped around that is for pre-teen girls that I’m excited about. I would love to write more for this age group.
Morgen: Which authors did you read when you were younger and did they shape you as a writer?
Natasha: Dr. Seuss for sure influenced me! His writing was silly and rhymed, so I do enjoy a good bouncy rhyme. I enjoyed Cinderella, too. That was my first pop-up book. It had a crepe paper pumpkin that rose up from inside the cover.
Morgen: Do you think it’s easier writing for children than adults?
Natasha: I do. I tried to write a sci-fi novel and trying to keep track of all the plot threads was challenging. I also am the type of person who likes to scale down. I don’t wear a lot of jewellery. My house is not cluttered. So I like the act of cutting out the unnecessary and clarifying what it is I really want to say with as few words as possible.
Morgen: Do you get a second opinion on your stories before they’re published – if so from adults, children or both?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, haiku poem, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, Natasha Wing, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry exercises, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, suspense thriller, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing exercises, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
I’m delighted to announce that I shall be doing a talk on blogging at The Poetry Cafe! I’ve known for a while but here we are, the day before, so I wanted to let you all know (I have been mentioning it on Facebook and Twitter for a while now) just in case you happened to be in London. If you are, or if you’re just interested, the details are below…
LOOSE MUSE – London’s Premiere Women’s Writers Night
Wednesday 13th March – the second Wednesday of each month.
@ The Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2 (closest tube = Covent Garden)
8.00 p.m. – £5.00 – £3.00 concessions
Features this month:
Morgen Bailey is based in Northamptonshire, England, and is a prolific blogger, podcaster, editor / critiquer, Chair of NWG (which runs the annual H.E. Bates Short Story Competition), Head Judge for the NLG Flash Fiction Competition. She is also a freelance author of numerous ‘dark and light’ short stories, novels, articles, and very occasional dabbler of poetry. Her blog http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com, is consumed by all things literary. She has recently created five online writing groups and an interview-only blog. Her debut novel is the chick lit eBook The Serial Dater’s Shopping List.
Rosemary Harris is a prize-winning Australian poet, novelist, writer and performer based in the UK. Her poetry has been widely published and she has just completed a novel on the Suffragettes, The Invisible Riot.
Special Guest spot – Margaret Eddershaw is a poet-performer with four poetic suites to her name. Her first full poetry collection will be published in autumn 2013. She currently lives in Greece, and has come to London especially for Loose Muse.
Plus plenty of chances to read your own work from the floor.
How cool is that?
Thank you to Agnes for arranging it all and I look forward to meeting her… and you if you can make it!
***
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.
I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and sixty-second my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, scriptwriters, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with crime writing novelists Bob and Carol Bridgestock. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello Bob, Carol. I’m going to jump straight in and ask you about the formats of your books? How involved were you in that process? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Bob / Carol: Yes, our books are available in paperback, all eReaders and ‘Deadly Focus’ is available as an audio book too. If the readers are on Audible.com they can listen to the MP3, Unabridged version (approx 8hrs), free too.
Caffeine Nights Publishing are readily available to us and involves us in the publishing process – yes, I know from other authors we are very, very lucky.
Carol: I must admit to only reading paperbacks. Maybe in a way I separate the process of reading our narrative, on the computer, as work and reading for pleasure from a paperback. Bob has read a book or two online though.
Morgen: Audiobooks are my favourite format because I can multi-task. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters?
Carol: I’m smiling as every book is my favourite when I’m working on it and Bob is always a book ahead of me in our writing process and he fuels that excitement too. Bob hasn’t got a favourite he says he loves them all!
Morgen: If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Carol: Morgen, I love this question as there are two particular actors who we would love to play Dylan and Jen (as these characters are very loosely based on Bob and myself). Brendan Coyle who plays John Bates the butler in Downton Abbey would be absolutely perfect as Dylan. We were watching the series when this question was asked before an interview. Brendan follows us on Twitter and he has also requested a copy of ‘Deadly Focus’ & ‘Consequences’ to read, as others were remarking how they saw him playing the role. Who knows for the future? Joanna Froggatt who plays Anna in the series would also be a brilliant Jen. Their chemistry together on set is just amazing.
Morgen: I missed Downton Abbey when it was first on but heard good things about it so watched series two then bought series one. I could see why people liked it. Which authors did you read when you were younger and did they shape you as a writer?
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Tags: 5pm fiction, agent, Amazon, author, author interview, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, blogger, blogging, Bob and Carol Bridgestock, Bob Bridgestock, books, Carol Bridgestock, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, critique groups, debut novel, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fantasy horror, fantasy writer, feedback, fellow authors, fiction, fiction author, five senses, flash fiction, Goodreads, grammar skills, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, historical author, historical writer, horror novel, indie, interview, interview with writer, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, open mic nights, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, poetry slams, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, suspense novelist, travel memoir, travel writer, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writer interview, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing fiction, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, writing poetry, writing prompts, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Complementing the full interviews on this blog, which will be dropping to weekend mornings from mid-March, another new interview on my interview-only blog has been posted! The (640+) interviews from this blog are there already so there’s plenty to read.
The latest interview on the new blog is with mystery suspense novelist and short story author Terry Ambrose and can be read in full at http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com/2013/02/16/author-with-mystery-suspense-novelist-and-short-story-author-terry-ambrose.
***
If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me and I’ll send you the information. They do now (January 2013) carry a fee (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the new interviews on this blog but everything else (see Opportunities on this blog) is free.
Alternatively, if you’d like a free Q&A-only interview, I now have http://morgensauthorinterviews.wordpress.com on which I’ve rerun the original interviews posted here then posted new interviews which I then reblog here. These interviews are Q&A only, so I don’t add in my comments but they do get exposure on both sites.
If you go for the interview, it’s very simple; I send you a questionnaire (I have them for novelists, short story authors, children’s authors, non-fiction authors, and poets). You complete the questions, and I let you know when it’s going to go live. Before it does so, I add in comments as if we’re chatting, and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel, which is being serialised on Novel Nights In!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group
We look forward to reading your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, Barnes and Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, copyediting, copyeditor, copywriter, copywriting, cozy mysteries, creative writing, crime, crime series, crime thriller, crime thrillers, critique, editing, editor, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, fiction author, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, horror novel, interview, interviewees, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novelists, novels, paranormal, paranormal romance, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, pseudonyms, publisher, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, scriptwriters, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story a day, Story A Day May, story author, story authors, story collections, story writer, submissions, Terry Ambrose, Twitter, vampire, Waterstones, western, western author, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, writing novels, YA, young adult novels, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and twenty-eighth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with children’s author Dr Cherrye Vasquez. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Dr. Vasquez. Please tell us something about yourself.
Dr. Vasquez: I am a public school administrator and an adjunct professor. I’ve obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy in Curriculum & Instruction; a Master of Education in Special Education; and a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Pathology / Audiology. My specialties include Multi-cultural education and I hold certifications in Early Childhood Handicapped, Mid-Management and Educational Diagnostician. I live in Houston with my husband, Roy and my daughter, Kelly.
Morgen: You write fiction, how do you decide what to write about?
Dr. Vasquez: My writing, although fiction; mirrors my personal life, so my characters were created to fit the story line of my book, so that I could best tell my story and the message that I want children to learn from my book.
Morgen: They say to write about what you know. What have you had published to-date?
Dr. Vasquez: I have published three books to-date. My first book, No Tildes on Tuesday, is a children’s chapter book geared toward children aged 7-13 years old. In addition, I’ve published two Daybooks: Affirmation Daybook and Diversity Daybook. These are journal writing books with the purpose of children journaling about their uniqueness while affirming who they are and what they will become in life.
Morgen: What a great idea. Journaling is so popular with adults that it makes sense to encourage children to do that. Writing can be so therapeutic. Have you self-published? If so, what lead to you going your own way?
Dr. Vasquez: My publisher for No Tildes on Tuesday is Tate Publishing & Enterprises. They do not consider themselves to be a vanity publisher, but many people consider this for them since they require upfront costs to actually publish your work. Tate produced an excellent book for me. My two Daybooks were published through CreateSpace.com
Morgen: If you’re happy with them that’s the important thing. Are your books available as eBooks? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
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Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, Cherrye Vasquez, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, Dr Cherrye Vasquez, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, mystery series, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and twenty-first of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with historical romance novelist Nandita Chakraborty Banerji. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Nandita. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Nandita: I am based in Mumbai. I always loved to express things in writing. I love the English language and playing with words is something I find very creative. I enjoyed writing short stories during my lunch breaks at work (my blog: http://create.sulekha.com).
As for writing a book, I wanted to write something about the hippie era having witnessed some of it in my childhood without actually being a part of the culture. I found that writing is something I would like to do again and again. Portraying Indian culture and a foreign culture that lay side by side and yet coupled to produce people like my characters was an exciting thought.
Morgen: The actual writing if my favourite aspect and whilst a blank page can be daunting, there really is nothing (with the exception of reader feedback) as thrilling. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Nandita: I have written in the genre of historical romance and would like to write more on romantic and social issues and exploring of relationships.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date?
Nandita: I have published one book THE MYSTERIOUS DREAMS:
Morgen: I see your book is available as an eBook, do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Nandita: I prefer reading paper because I find it more convenient to curl up with and carry around.
Morgen: Most people do although for journeys / holidays it’s great having so many in one place. Do you have a favourite of your characters? If your book was made into a film, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Nandita: My main protagonists are my favourites. If my book was made into a film I would have Leonardo di Caprio as Chris and Vidya Balan (Indian actress) as Shibani. (Chris and Shibani are the main characters of my book).
Morgen: Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?
Nandita: Yes. I did have some say in the title and cover of my book. I think it is very important for the author to have a say in these matters because the concept of the book has been meticulously thought and created by the author.
The title and cover need to give the right message to the audience. The author feels dissatisfied in case the title and cover do not portray or do not conform to the author’s requirement and imagination.
Morgen: They certainly should represent the inside, and you have a great cover and intriguing title. What are you working on at the moment / next?
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Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, Nandita Banerji, Nandita Chakraborty Banerji, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and twentieth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with children’s author and novelist Debbie Dadey. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Debbie. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Debbie: Hi, I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia. As a lifelong reader, teacher, and librarian I was one of those people who said “I could write something better than that!” Wow, what a learning experience that turned out to be. It’s definitely not as easy as I thought!
Morgen: I kind of thought like that, and eight years later I only now feel that I know what I’m doing (although we all keep learning). You write children’s books, was there a reason to choose this genre?
Debbie: I was an elementary teacher and then a librarian. My favourite part of the day was reading books aloud. They are so fun to read and write!
Morgen: And I’m sure the children loved hearing them. If I’d gone into teaching (I’d thought about it) I would have taught primary / elementary. What have you had published to-date?
Debbie: I have been fortunate to publish 10 series, mostly with Scholastic. My first series was The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids, which I co-authored with Marcia Thornton Jones. The first title was Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots. Marcia and I have written several series together, but I’ve also written solo titles on my own, as well as series. My most recent series, Mermaid Tales, is with Simon and Schuster. The first two titles are Trouble at Trident Academy and Battle of the Best Friends. I have also co-authored two books with my son. My daughter and I have been working on a story together.
Morgen: It must be great fun to collaborate with some you’re close to. I have writing friends but never written anything with them… now there’s a thought. I mentioned primary school, what age group do you write for?
Debbie: I have written a couple of picture books and novels, but the bulk of my work has been for the chapter book level-usually second through fourth graders.
Morgen: Do you think it’s easier writing for children than adults?
Debbie: No, sometimes it’s harder because you must use fewer words to tell the story.
Morgen: Like flash fiction. Do you get a second opinion on your stories before they’re published – if so from adults, children or both?
Debbie: Yes, I belong to a critique group who gives me excellent feedback. I rewrite from that and then my agent gives me suggestions. I rewrite from that. And if I’m lucky, the editor will give me comments and I rewrite from that! I often ask my own children what they think and they are tough on me!
Morgen: My mother’s the same with me. Do you have any tips for anyone thinking about writing for children?
Debbie: You must love to write and you must love children’s stories enough that you would do it for free. Because, often that is the case!
Morgen: But it sounds as if you love writing. Are your books available as eBooks? How involved were you in that process? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Debbie: My new series, Mermaid Tales, is available on eBooks and I wish all my books were. I think children are more comfortable with ebooks than we are as adults. I definitely prefer paper, but my husband loves technology and passed his own Kindle on to me. I must admit it is handy for trips. Instead of lugging five books, I can drop the Kindle into my purse. I was not involved in the process, as that is the publisher’s choice. However, I am actively involved in getting my out-of-print titles back in print as eBooks through a company called StarWalk Kids.
Morgen: It’s a good idea; eBooks are quickly outselling paper. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
Debbie: I must admit that Eddie of The Adventures of the Bailey School Kids is a favourite. He is a good kid, but just can’t help getting into mischief. I was looking at a cover of Mrs. Jeepers Is Missing (there are 51 numbered and more Specials) and thought how perfect Angelina Jolie would be as the vampire teacher, Mrs. Jeepers!
Morgen: That I can imagine. Mischief is fun, and very appealing to children of any age. Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?
Debbie: They are extremely important in any genre, but especially in children’s books. Unfortunately, most authors have little or no say in the covers if they are published by a traditional publisher.
Morgen: That’s very true, and I know some authors who have had to market books with covers they really don’t care for, which is really hard, but you have to hope that the publisher knows what it’s doing. What are you working on at the moment / next?
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Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, bailey school kids, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, bucks county pennsylvania, characters, children s books, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, Debbie Dadey, Debbie Dady, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Marcia Thornton Jones, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, pinterest, poetry, polka dots, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short story group, Simon and Schuster, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and nineteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with non-fiction and scriptwriter Mary Batten. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Mary.
Mary: Hello, Morgen. Thank you for this opportunity to be featured on your blog.
Morgen: You’re very welcome. I’m delighted you could join me. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Mary: I write nonfiction books, magazine articles, and television shows for children and adults. Most of my work deals with nature and science, although I get quite political in my blog. I’ve been writing since I was eight years old and I knew I wanted to be a writer at that early age. I don’t know why the writing bug bit me, but I know my grandmother played an important part. When I was in the second grade, I lived with my grandparents, as my mother was expecting her third child and our family doctor thought it would be less stressful for me (I had had rheumatic fever the year before and everybody was worried about my heart) and my mother if I lived with my grandparents whose house was just five minutes down the road. During that year, my grandmother and I played a storytelling game almost every day. She would make up a story and then I would make up a story. In retrospect, I realize we were “writing” with our imaginations.
I live on the East Coast of the United States in Virginia.
Morgen: What a wonderful grandmother. I totally understand about the writing bug biting, it got me in my late thirties. With your non-fiction, how do you decide what to write about?
Mary: Sometimes an editor calls me and asks whether I’d be interested in writing about this or that topic. Otherwise I write about things that fascinate me. Nature is always a great source of ideas. I’m drawn to unusual, often bizarre behaviours of animals and plants, such as mating behaviour and pollination.
Morgen: The great thing about nature is that there’s so much of it. You’d never run out of inspiration. What have you had published to-date?
Mary: To date, I’ve published some 15 books. These include my new eBook, How To Have Sex If You’re Not Human: Intimate Journeys in Natural History, Sexual Strategies: How Females Choose Their Mates, Aliens From Earth, Hungry Plants, Anthropologist: Scientist of the People, Please Don’t Wake the Animals: A Book About Sleep, Hey, Daddy!, and Wild Cats. I also have a short story, “The Rabbit”, in the forthcoming edition of IN GOOD COMPANY, a short story anthology published by Live Wire Press.
Morgen: A great variety. You’ve self-published, what lead to you going your own way?
Mary: Only one of my books is self-published, How To Have Sex If You’re Not Human. I decided to step into the digital publishing world and self-publish my first eBook. Digital technology makes it so easy for writers to publish their work. It’s a whole new publishing arena that gives writers control of their work, higher royalties, and elimination of the middle level of agents and publishers. I find it very exciting and it’s clear that digital books are the books of the present and the future. However, there’s a tradeoff. The writer must take on the challenge of marketing her work. You aren’t going to sell any books unless you climb the steep marketing curve. Marketing is time consuming and difficult. It definitely cuts into writing time. You have to become your own publicist, interact with social media, blog, do podcasts, and anything else you think will help sell your book. Some writers hit it big by self-publishing digitally, but most writers who go this route don’t. Most of my books are published by traditional publishers. I think pursuing a mixed publication strategy is best for me.
Morgen: I think you’re very wise. Authors these days have to do plenty of marketing, needless to say more so when they go it alone but then we get to contact our readership directly which is great. Are all your books available as eBooks?
Mary: I have two eBooks: How To Have Sex If You’re Not Human, which I self-published, and Hungry Plants, which my publisher, Random House, released in digital format.
Morgen: For the traditionally published books, did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?
Mary: Yes, I come up with most of my titles and others evolve from brainstorming with my editors. I sometimes make cover suggestions; in other instances, my editors and publishers come up with the cover idea in collaboration with the illustrator. I am so fortunate to have wonderful artists like Higgins Bond, Paul Mirocha, and Beverly J. Doyle who have illustrated my books. Titles and book covers are extremely important in catching a reader’s attention. They’re the first thing a potential buyer sees.
Morgen: They are indeed, and you have striking titles and covers (Sexual Strategies is my favourite of the three you’ve sent me). What are you working on at the moment / next?
Mary: I’m working on a two-part memoir project.
Morgen: Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
Mary: Usually I write something every day. I’ve never had writer’s block.
Morgen: You’re very fortunate. I rarely get stuck but then like you, I write a variety so it does make it easier. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?
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Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Mary Batten, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, mystery series, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and eighteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with non-fiction author Mark Spivak. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Mark. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.
Copyright 2012 Tobias Steiner
Mark: I specialize in wine, spirits, food, restaurants and culinary travel. I started writing in early childhood; I’ve had a number of different careers in my life, but have always come back to writing.
Morgen: Me too except I only discovered creative writing eight years ago then I strove towards giving up my day job (achieved last March) ever since. I’ve described you in the introduction as a ‘non-fiction author’, please tell us more and what you’ve published.
Mark: Primarily, I focus on non-fiction that appears in newspapers, magazines and on the Internet. My first book, Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History, was published in November by Lyons Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot.
Morgen: Can you remember where you saw your first book on the shelves?
Mark: I first saw the book on a shelf in Palm Beach, and it was an emotional experience. It’s an interesting moment when you realize the book actually has an existence independent of yourself.
Morgen: Isn’t it great. My solo projects are all just eBooks but I do have a story in an anthology (of which I have five copies) so it’s great seeing my name on the page, if not on the spine. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?
Mark: I’m doing most of the marketing and promotion this time around, which I gather isn’t unusual. Due to budget and personnel cutbacks, publishing houses don’t focus on individual books the way they used to.
Morgen: They don’t, unfortunately. Out of all the interviews I’ve hosted I’ve only had one author say that their (mainstream) publisher does their marketing, and she’s active on Twitter and Facebook (and I’m sure she does much more). It is just part of our ‘job’ these days. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Mark: Yes, my agent is Kate Epstein, based near Washington, D.C. She’s fabulous. Agents are more important now than ever before, since many publishers aren’t even accepting unsolicited manuscripts.
Morgen: Other than smaller presses, they tend not too. I’ve had mixed reports of authors’ experiences with agents, but on the whole those who have one are pleased they have. Is your book available as an eBook? Were you involved at all? And do you read eBooks?
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I mentioned in last Saturday’s shout-out that I’d created four new online critique writing groups (which welcome short stories, novel / script extracts up to 5,000 words and poems up to 50 lines for critique – see the Submissions page on each site) and accompanying Facebook groups and they’re ticking over nicely, with submissions on each blog, and authors chatting away to each other. I also post a set of four 15-minute exercises; poetry for the Poetry blog (http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com / http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934) and prose for the other three groups…
I said in the title of this shout-out that it’s been another week of changes, and two of the features on this blog have ceased:
- Red Pen Critique – I know it’s a popular feature because I go into such detail and normally I wouldn’t axe something like this but now the critique writing groups are up and running, they’ve taken over where the RPC has left off.
- Short Story Saturdays – this is where I reviewed or posted a guest story between 1,000 and 3,000 words. Again this has become superfluous now that the Short Story Writing Group is live, and the bonus is that I have upped the word limit to 5,000 words.
I’ve also increased the author spotlights from two nights a week (Wednesdays / Saturdays) to five nights (every week night!). This has immediately brought the lead time down considerably. Having the daily interviews booked up to the end of July is very frustrating for everyone. It’s great that it’s become such a popular slot but they are incredibly time-consuming for me, and have meant I’ve had little time for my own writing over the past year, defeating the object of quitting my job (in March) to be a full-time writer. So, the time has come for me to readjust the balance. It may not seem like it with me starting up four new groups but I’m hoping to step into the background, just posting the items and letting everyone else (although I’ll still red pen the submissions but put the scans in – and yes, I use a red pen – rather than type up my notes which took hours (because I’m so meticulous).
Anyway, this change in the spotlights has meant I now have Saturday nights free (after these shout-outs go up) so the two-week old slot Novel Nights In will not only run on Sunday evenings but also Saturday evenings; two novels in up to ten sections (so no submissions over 100,000 words) a week! Rose Mary Boehm’s novel ‘Coming Up for Air’ has been very well received so I shall be kicking off the Saturday night NNIs with my debut novel The Serial Dater’s Shopping List. I hope you enjoy it and look forward to your feedback. TSDSL is a 100,000-word novel so will run for the full ten weeks (ending Saturday 23rd March). I am welcoming submissions for novels to run after that, and after Rose’s novel which finishes on Sunday 10th March. See http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/novel-nights-in for details.
OK, that’s about it for this week. The first two chapters of my novel will appear in about an hour – don’t be backwards at coming forwards with your comments.
***
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As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words), or posted for others to critique (up to 5,000 words) on the new Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry and Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, pinterest, poetry, publisher, red pen, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and sixteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with multi-genre author Carmen Anthony Fiore. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello Carmen. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Carmen: My real name is Carmen Anthony Fiore, which is also my professional writing name. After a three-year sojourn in Florida with my wife, Catherine, who is a professional artist and art teacher, we moved back to our home state, New Jersey. The Toms River area is only about five miles from the Atlantic Ocean. I was born in Trenton, NJ. Anyone from Great Britain who is interested and familiar with the interlocking history of our countries will note that the battles of Trenton and Princeton in 1776-77 (Christmas holiday time) against the Hessians and the British troops played a pivotal role in the American Revolution and Gen. Washington’s rejuvenation as a winner, overcoming the loser he was prior to those battles. Talk about a momentum switch!
I’ve always marched to a different drummer, and I was always highly alert to my environment when growing up, as well as having an active imagination. Looking back, I realize how important that was to my becoming a writer. But I shouldn’t discount growing up with my father’s barbershop occupying the front room of our house. I used to sweep the hair and shine shoes in it while listening to the adult male conversations. I found them intriguing. It was an education you can’t buy or get in school. Of course, as an adult I held positions as a social worker, a schoolteacher and ad a civil servant for the State of New Jersey where I dealt with the public on a daily basis. My work background contributed to the grist that fed my writer’s mill, writing part time while maintaining the jobs, and now that I am retired, I write full time and I’m loving every minute of it. I hold a B.S. in Commerce from Rider Univ. and a Master of Education Degree from Rutgers Univ. (both in NJ). And my all-time favorite author is William Shakespeare. I’m such a fan of his I wrote a supplemental textbook for high-school kids titled SUPPLEMENT TO SHAKESPEARE which is supposed to be published this year by a small independent education press. It compares Shakespeare / Elizabethan entertainments to the present-day entertainments in all their electronic glory.
Morgen: An active imagination certainly does help a writer although it sounds like you’ve had an interesting life to write what you know. What have you had published to-date?
Carmen: So far I’ve published (print / e-books) 26 titles. Twenty-four titles are available on the Kindle e-book reader and other hand-held devices as follows:
Full-length novels priced @ $2.99 per download:
- AVARICE CAN BE DEADLY (private-eye/mystery-suspense) ASIN: B006QG7N5M
- ITALIAN INTERLUDE (private-eye/mystery-suspense) ASIN: B0073GQMOM
- THE DREAM LADY (private-eye/mystery-suspense) ASIN: B006SMKVXA
- TILL DEATH DO US PART (private-eye/mystery-suspense) ASIN: B007139TG0
- EROTIC PRIEST (drama) ASIN: B006GV89SC
- LITTLE OSCAR (erotic drama) ASIN: B00564R9HC
- SEARCHING (racial drama) ASIN: B003KN3Z1U
- SZABO’S SONG (social drama) ASIN: B006OELY42
- THE BARRIER (racial drama) ASIN: B005230PZ0
- THE COLORED KID (family/racial drama) ASIN: B006M47M0O
- THE LINCOLN CAPER (what-if historical fiction) ASIN: B0064D6CZ4
- THE SNAKESKIN (juvenile adventure) ASIN: B004VSYMOM
- VENDETTA MOUNTAIN (family/suspense drama) ASIN: B004X2HTLE
- A CASE IN PRINCIPLE (amateur-sleuth/mystery-suspense) ASIN: B007DCBIFY
- AND BABY MAKES THREE (amateur-sleuth/mystery-suspense) ASIN: B0081KQ1LI
Novellas priced @ $1.99 per download:
- A RESTLESS SPRING (family drama) ASIN: B005BYXAIE
- MIXED DOUBLES (mystery-suspense) ASIN: B005C6CHB2
- SPORTS CAN BE LETHAL (private-eye/mystery-suspense) ASIN: B006VEZ518
- THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP (private-eye/mystery-suspense) ASIN: B006YDMNKW
- WHERE’S THE PARTY? (drama) ASIN: B005A1IYIE
- YOUNGBLOOD STALLION: boy writer (humorous drama about writing, publishing) ASIN: B00767V43M
Full-length nonfiction:
- GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM DIFFICULT PEOPLE (self-help) ASIN: B005CKIBWM
- HOW TO BE EMBARRASSMENT PROOF (self-help) ASIN: B005D7V8QU
- NOBODY LOVES ME LIKE I DO (self-help) ASIN: B005EHRVB0
I have two books in print that are not on the Kindle:
- YOUNG HEROES OF THE CIVIL WAR (creative young-adult historical nonfiction)
- VOICES OF THE DAUGHTERS (nonfiction-interviews of Italian-American women/co-written)
Morgen: Wow. It makes me tired just reading that list. Have you ever written under a pseudonym?
Carmen: I have never used a pseudonym and never intend to.
Morgen: I wouldn’t say you need to with a great name like yours. You’ve self-published, what lead to you going your own way?
Read the rest of this entry »
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Complementing the blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and fifty-fifth, is of urban fantasy author Lauren Grimley.
There are benefits to growing up in a small town. One of them is that often you are forced to use your imagination to create excitement. Growing up in Grafton, Massachusetts, Lauren Grimley frequently dreamed up stories and often wrote them down to share with her family and friends. She also frequented both the town and school libraries, though never lingered in the fantasy sections, preferring historical fiction or horror stories at the time. She did, however, have a fantasy of her own: seeing her name on one of those book jackets.
Putting aside her childhood dream for a job that paid the bills, Lauren became a middle school English teacher after graduating from Boston University. It was her seventh graders who set her back on the writing path when they convinced a rather skeptical new teacher that vampire stories were worth reading. Lauren now spends her time writing them when she should be correcting papers. If she finds free time beyond these activities, she’s likely to spend it on a beach with a book and bottle of wine close by.
Lauren Grimley’s debut novel, Unforeseen, was published as an ebook in April 2012 and as a paperback on September 28, 2012. It is the first book in an adult urban fantasy series featuring a strong heroine, plenty of action, a healthy dose of romance, and, of course, some vampires.
The second book in the series, Unveiled, is expected out early 2013.
And now from the author herself:
The world doesn’t need another vampire series. I know this, yet I’m writing one. The logical question that follows is, “why?” The answer touches upon the very reason I write. When I came home from an evening jog with the opening scene of the novel fully formed in my mind, I sat down with my notebook and began writing–because it was fun. The story that was developing in my imagination was the kind I liked to read for enjoyment. I wasn’t setting out to change the world of modern literature. I wasn’t writing with a larger audience in mind at all. I was writing for entertainment, mine and eventually, as I realized this was the novel I was actually going to finish, for other fans of the genre. Still, during that first year of writing, I found myself apologizing for choosing a genre so popular that it had become a favourite target of critics. As soon as the word vampire left my lips I’d feel the heat in my blushing cheeks.
I’m past that now. I’m perfectly happy to tell people I write about vampires and gifted humans and can do so without a hint of pink in my cheeks. Part of this change stems from being published. Even just having the backing of a small press does wonders for one’s confidence. Another part of it is knowing that my novel has something to add to the previous mythology. The urban fantasy world I’ve created is unique and offers readers of a popular genre something new to discover. Really, though, it’s about being reminded why I began writing to begin with, for enjoyment. There is no greater joy than when a reader tells me the book made her laugh or kept her up late. Realizing that the same words that entertained me (and sometimes frustrated me) during the writing process could offer the same escape to a reader is thrilling. If a critic wants to bite into a book simply because of its genre, I can now smile while telling them in the words of my main character, Alex, “Go flash your fangs at someone who cares.”
Unforeseen is the story of twenty-five year old Alex Crocker, a teacher who thought she had all the answers. She was sure gifted was a term delusional parents applied to their strictly average children, vampires were gorgeous dead guys in her eighth-grade girls’ novels, and Seers was a middle schooler’s misspelling of a department store known for power tools. Teachers, however, don’t know everything–-it’s Alex’s turn to be educated.
Running alone the night before school ends, Alex is violently attacked. She quickly learns she’s sought after for possessing a gift she never wanted, one that could kill her or provide the power she’ll need to protect herself and those she cares for. Hunted for her gift and haunted by her dreams, Alex is driven to fight, even if it means allying herself with those just as deadly as her enemies.
You can find more about Lauren and her writing via…
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The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with multi-genre author Carmen Anthony Fiore – the six hundred and sixeenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words), or posted for others to critique (up to 5,000 words) on the new Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry and Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group.
Four new online writing groups:
We look forward to hearing your comments.
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, Lauren Grimley, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, pinterest, poetry, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and fifteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with poet and short story writer Clayton Bye. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Clayton. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Clayton: Hello Morgen. I’m a permanently disabled, 51 year-old author who spends my days stretched out on a couch with pillows at my back and who has a laptop that never sleeps. I’ve been writing since 1994, when I became old enough to understand I had collected the life-experiences necessary to write believable fiction and non-fiction. The disability, while unfortunate, has given me the opportunity to become a full-time writer (within the parameters of my illness). I live in Kenora, Ontario, Canada on the beautiful, world famous Lake of the Woods.
Morgen: I get sciatica and sometimes I can’t stand up straight but I’m very fortunate that it happens once or twice a year. My heart goes out to you, having to suffer that all the time. My laptop (a Mac) also never sleeps, and hasn’t since I bought it. Apparently with electrical equipment, what kills them is powering them up / switching them off repeatedly. I have mine set to open all the programmes I need when it does get rebooted so it would take a while. Do you write poetry to form or as it comes? If to form, what are your favourites? Are some easier than others?
Clayton: I seem to write to a natural beat or rhythm. This makes it easy to structure my poetry to that form. There’s no reason for any particular restriction: it’s like writing a song, actually. I get the sound and some written lines to go with that music, then I go through the process of making everything fit. This is important, as I believe that by imposing structure, we create clarity of meaning. For example, if my rhythm is 4/7/4/7/2, then I must search for words to fit that structure while also saying exactly what I mean. I also find that the cadence one can achieve when reading such poetry to an audience often brings a greater emotional meaning to those people.
By the way, the longer the poem, the more difficult it becomes. And because I’m a firm believer in enjoying myself, I write short poems.
Morgen: I write very little poetry so I always learn something when speaking to poets, part of the reason I set up http://poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com. Do you generally write rhyming or free verse?
Clayton: I prefer free verse, but have been known to go on the occasional rhyming binge. It’s a bit like being a reformed alcoholic.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date?
Clayton: I published a few poems in 2009 at Publishing Renaissance and (maybe) at the Write Room. But being a writer of books, rather than shorter forms, I decided to answer a certain inspiration and write a book of poems. This was self-published as an ebook in 2010 and as a paperback May 1st 2012.
Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?
Clayton: I have had exactly one rejection slip in my entire life. You see, at age 18 I wrote a poem I knew was good. I sent it to The Fiddlehead and received the rejection slip with the comment “Great imagery if a bit wordy.” I decided right there and then that I would never write to anyone’s standards but my own. And I didn’t. When I decided to start writing in 1994, I formed my own publishing company—we do everything but the actual printing, and if it was economical, we’d have bought a printer years ago. As for poems? I never wrote another poem until 2009. They must have been stored away, because I wrote one a week for 50 weeks, then created my book, “What I Found in the Dark.”
Morgen: That’s good going. It’s a shame that the rejection put you off for so long, but you’ve been making up for it ever since. Do you enter competitions? Are there any you could recommend?
Clayton: Never and No. I write to my own standards and couldn’t care less for others.
Morgen: The joy of self-publishing. Do you deal with publishers directly or do you have an editor / agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?
Clayton: Obviously I believe independent publishing is a viable instrument. And the only thing vital to an author’s success, whether he has gone traditional or independent, is himself or herself. If you do not throw yourself into a year-long marketing campaign once your book is published, then forget about seeing any money.
Morgen: I released my debut novel last November so I have a few months to go, although I’ve not really promoted it yet. The plan was to get my second-written (in 2009, there have been four more since) online shortly after but I’m still in final edit mode (or I would be if I actually got to it!). Are your books available as eBooks? How involved were you in that process?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, Clayton Bye, creative writing, crime, critique, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, kenora ontario canada, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, mystery series, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and twelfth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with multi-genre author Anne Hosansky. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Anne. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Anne: I live in New York City and work at home, which means I can get to my “office” in one minute.
I didn’t as much “come” to writing, as circle back to it. As a child I was always writing, mainly poems. My grandfather was the first (and only) person to believe I’d grow up to be a writer. You’ll be interested in knowing, Morgen, that he was British, a sports writer for The London Times. When I was a rebellious teenager I told him I was going to be an actress. “You’ll outgrow it,” he predicted. It took several decades, while I did act with various theatre companies. When I gave birth to my second child, I decided it was too difficult to juggle theatre and motherhood, so I stayed home and gained an extra 50 pounds out of boredom. I joined Weight Watchers to lose the pounds and heard that the company was looking for an editor. I applied, was hired, and began writing articles about weight loss. That was the beginning of getting back to my first love: writing. I left the organization after some 18 years, and began writing freelance articles and short stories.
What triggered my first book was my husband’s terminal illness and death in 1990. I wanted to write about our bizarre experiences in dealing with doctors. After my husband died, I continued writing about trying to make a new life for myself, writing it as I lived it. The result was my memoir Widow’s Walk.
Morgen: Sorry to hear about your husband. They say “write what you know”, and it is easier. Healthy eating has always been a popular subject – Jane Wenham-Jones blogged on my site only this week about her writer’s bottom. I’m also based at home and would sit in my pyjamas all day if I didn’t have to walk my dog. You write non-fiction, what else do you decide to write about?
Anne: Actually I write both fiction and non-fiction. With articles the idea comes from something I want to say or that seems relevant to the issues of the day. For instance, I’ve written many articles about being a caregiver for a loved one. After Widow’s Walk was published I decided to write about other people’s experiences on coping with loss. I interviewed dozens of inspiring people who also made new lives for themselves. This became my second book, Turning Toward Tomorrow.
Morgen: What have you had published to-date? Do you write under a pseudonym?
Anne: In addition to the two books I mentioned, I have a new one – Ten Women of Valor. It’s a totally different topic, our first Biblical heroines from a feminist viewpoint. I’ve also had numerous articles and short stories about a variety of topics published in magazines.
I don’t use a pseudonym. However, while working for Weight Watchers I wrote the advice column in the magazine under the name of Jean Nidetch (the founder). My therapist asked whether it bothered me to have my writing under someone else’s name. I thought about that, and haven’t done it since.
Morgen: I’d feel the same, unless I was being paid to ghost-write. You’ve self-published, what lead to you going your own way?
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Welcome to the six hundred and eleventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with scriptwriter & crime author Tony Glover. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Tony. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Tony: I live in Newcastle upon Tyne. I was born in Northumberland – the Debateable Lands, as they were known in the past – England’s last wilderness. I started writing as a child – I was always making up stories in the car on the way to school. When I was at secondary school I had some of them published in the school magazine.
Morgen: I love it when I hear that someone started writing early. I was in my late 30s and would have loved to have realised earlier how thrilling it is to make things up, but I remind myself that I have all those years’ experience to write about. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Tony: My first love was writing for film – shorts and so on. Then I had a radio play on the BBC which won a bronze Sony award. After that I had a pilot for a drama broadcast on ITV. I’ve had a couple of stage plays produced. But it was only recently I started writing crime stories. My first book was about an Elizabethan spy in the service of Sir Francis Walsingham. I had that ready to go when another writer brought out a book on the same subject – I remember reading the review in the Observer. My blood ran cold! So I put that back on the shelf and started a crime novel.
Morgen: I used to read Stephen King in my teens (under the duvet with a torch, they were so gripping) and loved Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected so it was inevitable my writing would have a dark side. I’ve written chick lit, lad lit and mystery, but my heart is with crime too. I started a crime series for NaNoWriMo 2012. What have you had published to-date?
Tony: This is my first published novel. I’ve written a book about wartime Darlington and a collection of folk tales but I’ve always pursued film writing, which is an odd sort of career. You are working blind in that you never know if your story will ever see the light of day. I’ve recently sold a script for a feature film but once a script leaves the writer, anything can happen. I’ve loved working on the current book because I’m not waiting for a decision from a producer or commissioning editor.
Morgen: I have heard many scriptwriters say how hard it is to get taken up, more so than prose, I think, and many books who have their film rights bought often never come to fruition, which is a real shame because someone saw the potential. I guess it’s all about money. Have you self-published?
Tony: I prefer to be a writer, rather than be a publisher. Self-publishing is a very respectable option but I don’t have all the skills to promote a book. I was lucky enough to be approached by two publishers for ‘Cars Just Want to be Rust’. Both were very able but I knew the folk at Crafty Publishing would give it their best shot.
Morgen: Are your books available as eBooks? How involved were you in that process? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Tony: Yes. ‘Cars Just Want to be Rust’ is available as an ebook on Amazon, Smashwords and the Crafty Publishing website. I learned as much as I could about the process – software, layout, publicity. I bought some software, which wasn’t right!
I read 50% on the Kindle and 50% paper. Sometimes you just need to hold a ‘proper’ book, don’t you? I love the smell of books – the aroma of ink is intoxicating!
Morgen: You do. I’m the same, pretty much. My house is a small library so I think I’ll always be reading ‘pBooks’, then there are so many free eBooks coming my way (I promote many via my 5am Flashes) that they all go on my Kindle. Do you have a favourite of your books or characters? If any of your books were made into films, who would you have as the leading actor/s?
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Last Saturday I started this section of the blog to say what I’ve been up to. It did go on a bit (you can read it here) and although a lot’s happened this week, I’ll try to keep this short (I do waffle for England).
Last Sunday morning while going round the park with my dog, I came up with the idea (although it had been milling for a while) of expanding, or at least diluting, the red pen critique I do, and build a blog where others can more involved in critiquing short stories.
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group was then born… and a few minutes later Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group… then by the end of Sunday, Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group, and the following day Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group.
So, there are now four groups where… readers and writers critique each others’… short stories, poetry, novels and scripts. I then created Facebook pages for them (listed at the end of this post’s footer), inviting some of my Facebook friends. If you’re on Facebook, feel free to join in.
I put a shout-out on Facebook and Twitter that these blogs / groups exists and have had almost a dozen submissions already for the first three groups (so if anyone has a <5,000-word script extract they’d like to submit…!).
To-date I’ve posted:
Plus I’ve started daily exercises with four prompts for each so an hour’s worth of writing every evening for those who say they can’t find the time, or inspiration, to write… most of us, I think.
Because of these groups, I’ll be stopping the Red Pen Critique slot after the two I have booked in (tomorrow and Sunday 20th) – (a) because I’m doing the same thing in the short story and novel groups (I’m not qualified to really comment on poetry or script as I don’t write much of them but no doubt I will have something to say!) and (b) because I’ve been doing my red pen and then typing up the notes which takes a few hours each – for example I’ve written 14 sides of a shorthand notepad (about A6-size) just for a 2,200-word story!
The Short Story Saturdays (sss) slot has also now stopped because it was also posting and reviewing stories so is duplicated by the new short story group.
I’ll also be cutting down on the blog interviews: I’m currently booked up (still at one-a-day) until the end of June, when they will go to weekend mornings only, with the author spotlights then moving from Wednesday and Saturday evenings to weekday mornings. I am now charging (£10 / €12.50 / $15) for the interviews (because they take at least an hour a day to do – I add in comments as if we’re chatting) but everything else will still be free of charge. Wednesday evening will become another guest blog spot and Saturday evenings… not sure yet, maybe I’ll be posting some writing of mine.
I’ve also handed over the reins of my (in-person) Monday night writing group to a colleague who’s now going to host it every other Monday at her house. I’ll still go from time-to-time but it’s one less thing I have to do.
Last Sunday saw the start of the new Novel Nights In slot, where I run a guest novel in a maximum of 10 instalments. The novels can be self- or traditionally published but if the latter, I’ll need permission from your publisher that they’re happy to run it.
The 5pm Fiction has had a break since I started NaNoWriMo at the beginning of November but that returns February 1st. The idea was that it would give me three months to edit novel number two (a mystery written in 2009) but it’s making slow progress.
So, all-in-all a busy week with a lot of changes (I’m hoping for the better). No writing of my own done (not even the exercises – tut tut!), but hopefully the groups will more or less take care of themselves with a bit of admin from me. I will critique each one but the plan (from now on) is not to put the critique on the blog but provide links to scans of my markings. Invariably they’ll look scary but hopefully everyone will learn something from them. Each blog group has a ‘Submissions’ page stating what I need but do email me (morgen@morgenbailey.com) if you have any queries.
I quit my job in March 2012 so I could spend more time writing, I’m hoping 2013 will see me actually doing just that!
***
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You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words), or posted for others to critique (up to 5,000 words) on the new Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry and Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group.
Four new online writing groups:
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Welcome to the six hundred and ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with non-fiction author Yves Johnson. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Yves. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Yves: Hi Morgen. I’m the Founder of Christ Is My Savior Ministries. I’m a preacher by trade and I’ve just started my “moonlighting” career as a writer. I was based in Fort Washington, MD but my family and I moved to Tucson, AZ this June. God inspired me to write this book. I wanted to write an entirely different book!
Morgen: Maybe you could write that one next? What have you had published to-date?
Yves: I wrote There Is No Gray In Moral Failure: A Practical Guide In Preventing Financial and Sexual Misconduct.
Morgen: You’ve self-published, what lead to you going your own way?
Yves: I spoke to several well-known publishing companies. I thought I was going to go with one but I did not like some of the restrictions. I spoke to several self-publishing authors and liked everything about controlling the birth creation of my first book.
Morgen: I’ve been offered a couple of publishing contracts and felt the same (although I’m still on good terms with both publishers). I did everything myself and it was fun. Is your book available as an eBook? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
Yves: No, it is not an e-book yet but I plan on having it as an ebook. I read paper books. I’m going to the Ukraine so I will try ebooks and see how I like them.
Morgen: I’m sure you’ll enjoy them. It’s different to the real thing (most people say not as good) but I have 400+ books on my iPad so imagine lugging those around. Did you have any say in the titles / covers of your books? How important do you think they are?
Yves: Yes, I had total say in creating my title. I think it’s very important since it’s the first thing to catch a prospective reader’s eye.
Morgen: It is, that’s true. Do you manage to write every day? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?
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Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of villains, is brought to you by Y.A. fantasy, mystery novelist, guest blogger and interviewee TJ Perkins.
The Making of a ‘Good’ Villain
It is said that in order to create really great characters that your readers care about you must absorb yourself into their psyche; you must take a part of your own personality and place it into ‘them.’ I’m sure many of you have done that – think back – go on…ahhhh, so you remember how that damsel in distress was a part of you when you were going through a tough time, or how the great warrior in your latest fantasy novel resembled your thoughts and feelings on a matter. This is all great and wonderful for the good guys in a story, but what about the bad guys?
The same holds true for the villains – yes, the author’s darker side. Sure, everyone wants to see the hero triumph, but in order for that to happen you have to have a really good bad guy, someone that will challenge your hero, someone who will throw out all the obstacles that he can to make the hero really struggle. But to love the hero one must also love the villain.
It’ll take an exceptional villain, one with much evil, dastardly doings and underhandedness to capture your reader’s hearts. He or she will have to pull out all the stops and really be nasty to the hero, doing all they can to destroy him and thwart the whole saving the world thing. But how do you do that?
Unfortunately, my friend, you’re going to have to get evil. Yes, that’s what I said. You need to think mean and nasty, and allow the dark corners of your demented mind (and yes, I know you have them) to trickle out. You have to actually draw out from your being all the demented, twisted ideals from the very fabric of your soul and entwine these ideals throughout the story. The villain will challenge the hero from the very beginning and the storyline must have a balanced roller-coaster ride of really bad stuff happening, then a lull, then more bad stuff happening. All of which the villain is instigating.
If you’re having trouble coming up with great ideas for the bad guy to do to the good guy think of opposites. Example: In a store line someone may allow another person to cut in line. What’s the opposite? What mean thing could be done? I’ve found a lot of negative, dastardly stuff in cartoon movies, anime, or even by watching some of the best villains in current HBO shows.
There are actually a lot of great ideas out there, you just have to look. Once you find them you must embrace the dark side, allow your villain to be the most evil, scheming, conniving villain he/she can be, and make your readers love to hate him/her. Give them a twisted since of humor. Make them sarcastic. Make them a complete asshole. The choice is up to you.
Go, now, and create. Enjoy the dastardly events that will make your hero miserable and the reader cheer, yet cry, when you villain is defeated.
Happy Writing!
That was great, thank you, TJ. Great to have you back.
***
TJ Perkins is an award-winning author of the mystery / suspense genre. Her writing style has been compared to that of Mildred Wirt Benson A.K.A. Carolyn Keen (Nancy Drew). Mystery books for ages 8-14 are Mystery of the Attic, On Forbidden Ground, Wound Too Tight and the first 5 books in the Kim & Kelly Mystery Series.
TJ has recently expanded into the world of fantasy for teens. Publisher Silver Leaf Books has contracted to release Shadow Legacy, a 5-book series of fantasy. The first installment of this new exciting series, Art of the Ninja: Earth, is an award-winner and has been classified by readers and reviewers as a cross-genre of fantasy/manga.
TJ lives in Baltimore, MD with her 2 cats and an imagination that’s bursting at the seams.
You can read sample pages of TJ’s writing (www.authorsden.com/tjperkins), see the book trailer (www.silverleafbooks.com), check out TJ’s blog, follower her on Twitter, friend / like her on Facebook and find her books at Goodreads (all her books are available on Kindle, Nook, iPad – just look them up by TJ Perkins).
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If you would like to write a writing-related guest post for my blog then feel free to email me with an outline of what you would like to write about. If it’s writing-related then it’s highly likely I’d email back and say “yes please”.
The blog interviews return as normal tomorrow morning with non-fiction author Yves Johnson – the six hundred and ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.
***
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words), or posted for others to critique (up to 5,000 words) on the new Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my Red Pen Critique posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry and Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group.
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Complementing my daily blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and fifty-second, is of romance novelist, guest blogger and interviewee Sherry Gloag.
Multi-published author, Sherry Gloag is a transplanted Scot now living in the beautiful coastal countryside of Norfolk, England. She considers the surrounding countryside as extension of her own garden, to which she escapes when she needs “thinking time” and solitude to work out the plots for her next novel. While out walking she enjoys talking to her characters, as long as there are no other walkers close by.
Apart from writing, Sherry enjoys gardening, walking, reading and cheerfully admits her books tend to take over most of the shelf and floor space in her workroom-cum-office. She also finds crystal craft work therapeutic.
And now from the author herself:
There are two things about my latest release, Vidal’s Honor, you may not know. Because it is a Regency suspense romance— it required a great deal of historical research, which I find a huge challenge, and I bombed at history at school.
So why on earth did I choose to write a Regency story? And why did I situate it in a time and place of a genuine battle in 1812 before ensuring my heroine arrived in London in time for a particular ball at a particular month of the year?
The battle of Salamanca took place in Spain in July 1812. That is a fact. And I based the opening of Vidal’s Honor around that truth. It is also a fact that the troops suffered through one of the worst thunderstorms during the night prior to the battle, so I used that snippet for my opening scene. But since that only accounted for a few hours I had to go deeper, much deeper. And knowing I bombed at history in school, I wasn’t looking forward to digging for facts and trying to make sense of them. So imagine my surprise when I found myself enjoying the chase. For to me, that is what research amounts to. The fact(s) you are seeking become the fox, and the researcher becomes the hunter.
I found myself buying books I’d never have considered, and by doing so came across several authors whose other books I will buy. I bought DVDs and spent hours watching documentaries and films in order to absorb the scenery and atmosphere. And I a friend, Sandy (White) Nachlinger, who generously allowed me to use some diary entries from her own experiences when walking the Camino De Santiago De Compostela. I also haunted google earth and google maps and woke up one day to find my submission deadline perilously close, *grin*.
So—not only did I enjoy writing Vidal and Honor’s story, but I expanded my horizon in so many different directions with the books and films I found, the documents I scoured, and the challenge of how to include what I’d learned without creating an ‘info-dump’ for the reader to digest.
Will I do it again? You bet! But next time I’ll make sure I don’t box myself into a corner called ‘time.’ I’ll make sure I don’t find myself running out of time the way I boxed myself in with Vidal’s Honor.
I learned several unexpected lessons from and while writing Vidal’s Honor, many of which I’ll take on board in future, others that I will explore more deeply.
For me, it’s not just about writing a story, as each story is like a new journey. I meet new people, my characters; I travel to new places, the settings I have to research, the pictures I find, the information I uncover, and finally, but certainly not least, I meet my readers.
To all of you I offer my thanks and belated best wishes for 2013.
Thank you, Sherry, and you.
Sherry sent me some photographs which I’m sure you’ll find interesting…
“This is an overview from Spain towards Gibraltar, and I used this picture to asses whether it was possible to ‘swim’ across the border and enter Spain. I decided, that with quite a bit of licence it could be done.”
“This one gave me the scene and events that happened when Honor was caught up in a landslide later in the story.”
“The picture on the right is the sort of scene Honor would see during her escape across Spain, although not specifically described.”
“And then finally, on the left, is a picture of the map showing the Pyreneen Mountain pass boarder town from Spain to France. Honor and Vidal could not drop down to the coast as the bay was controlled by the French navy, so they had to chance going overland through France to reach the Channel coast and escape to England.”
Wish I was there, for sure. Thank you, Sherry. You can find more about Sherry and her writing via…
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The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with non-fiction author Karen Kilby – the six hundred and eighth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words), or posted for others to critique (up to 5,000 words) on the new Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry and Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group.
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Welcome to the six hundred and seventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with thriller author Ethan Jones. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Ethan. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Ethan: I have always liked to read and I tried my hand at writing when I was 13-14. I would read a story or watch a movie and then go to write how I wanted the story or the movie to continue. Then life happened. After finishing law school, I also continued my graduate studies and got a Master of Laws degree. As a part of my degree, I had to write a 150-page thesis. The process of research, writing, rewriting and editing inspired me to return to my childhood passion. I was blessed with time and I learned things as I wrote.
I live in Canada with my wife and my son.
Morgen: Oh yes, I know all about life happening. I left my job March 2012 and have got one novel online since then (I have another four written, they just need the dreaded editing). The time goes so quickly, it’s crazy. We (time) and I used to be good friends – I’m hoping we rekindle our friendship this year. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?
Ethan: I love spy thrillers and suspense stories and I like to write about things I love. Besides spy thriller, I’ve started to work on a murder mystery set in the US, called A Complicated Justice. A Court of Appeals judge goes missing and the detectives are trying to find him, the reasons why he has disappeared and the whole truth.
Morgen: That sounds great. Do let me know when that’s available. What have you had published to-date?
Ethan: My debut spy thriller, Arctic Wargame, was released on Amazon.com on May 22, 2012 as an eBook and paperback. At the same time, I released two short stories: Carved in Memory––which is a prequel to Arctic Wargame and explains an important aspect of Justin’s background–– and The Last Confession––about a dying NY mobster confession to his priest. Most recently Tripoli’s Target, which is the second book in Justin Hall series. This time, Justin and his partner, Carrie O’Connor, return to North Africa to meet with one of the masterminds of a terrorist network. The man in question has promised them high-value intelligence, related to an assassination plot against the US President during her visit to a G-20 summit in Tripoli, Libya. The US Secret Service is informed about this plot, and they take all necessary measures to protect the President. However, new intelligence points at a large flaw in Justin’s and Carrie’s plan. They must now scramble to avoid the disaster. Tripoli’s Target was released in fall 2012.
Morgen: Which have been 5am Flashes free eBooks a few times (and I have them, thank you). You’ve self-published, what lead to you going your own way?
Ethan: I shopped my two novels, Arctic Wargame and Tripoli’s Target (out in fall 2012), to a few hundred agents and publishers over the course of 2009-2011. I received some great feedback. A few agents asked for a partial manuscript and two or three for a full. But no one was willing to make an offer or sign a contract. In the meantime, I kept writing. I had not considered self-publishing because it seemed like a lot of work and I had truly hoped an agency or a publisher would pick up my works. Upon the suggestion of a good friend, I dusted off my first novel, Arctic Wargame. I found three great beta readers, all published writers, and we took a new stab at my gibberish. Then I worked with two great editors and proof-readers, to create the best possible work.
Morgen: A “few hundred agents”? Wow, that’s determination. I stopped at just after a dozen, because I could see how simple it was (once you got the hang of it) to eBook. Are all your books available as eBooks? How involved were you in that process? Do you read eBooks or is it paper all the way?
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Tags: advice, agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, erotic romance, erotica, Ethan Jones, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, free eBook, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, mystery series, negative criticism, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, screenwriting, scriptwriting, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, spotlight, spy, spy thriller, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, thriller, thriller author, tips, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Following on from my New short story and poetry critique blogs! post on Sunday, I’ve since posted two guest poems, which have both received several likes and comments, and will be posting the first guest short story today.
I was toying with the idea of having a forum (and do mention my Forum) but have also set up Facebook Groups for both. If you’re on Facebook and would like to join in, do pop along…
Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group (http://www.facebook.com/groups/544072635605445)
Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group (http://www.facebook.com/groups/388850977875934)
Last night I also set the first set of 15-minute exercises on the short story site…
- Sentence start: Feeling the movement in the…
- Keywords: potato, Monday, press, more, window
- One-word prompt: Frail
- Mixed bag: doctor, horse-rider, potato peeler, cemetery, lost (dilemma), shy (trait)
Click the exercises link above for a full explanation. You can do them any time and they’re stored in Exercises if you miss any.
There’ll be exercises every evening (UK time) and I’ll probably start some for the poetry group today and every morning (when I have Submissions) I’ll post a new short story or poem.
So, if you write short stories and / or poems do pop by. Because they’re writing groups I’d especially appreciate feedback on what you see and it’s a community “where readers and writers critique each others” poetry / short stories.
Next up is my interview with memoirist Julie Greene.
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** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words), or posted for others to critique (up to 5,000 words) on the new Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group. Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry and Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group.
Tags: agent, Amazon, amazon co uk, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest poems, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, Morgen's Online Poetry Writing Group, Morgen's Online Short Story Writing Group, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, pinterest, poetry, poetry critique, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, screenwriting, scriptwriting, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, Smashwords, story author, story authors, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Welcome to the six hundred and fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with multi-genre author Rebeccah Giltrow. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.
Morgen: Hello, Rebeccah. Please tell us something about yourself, where you’re based, and how you came to be a writer.
Hello. I’m Rebeccah, a 30-year-old procrastinator based in the small village of Kessingland, just outside of Lowestoft (famous for being the most easterly town in England). I started writing as soon as I could hold a pen and wrote for many years until I fell out of love with all things literary when I was about 15 or 16 years old. My love for the subject was rekindled a few years later and after taking a creative writing module the 3rd year of my degree at University of Essex, I realised that I wanted to write. Strike that. I needed to write. I took a year out after graduating to make some money, and returned to university in 2006 to study MA Creative Writing. Since then, it’s the only thing I do that makes me happy. It’s not easy, but I enjoy it, and I’m learning so much by doing it.
Morgen: What a shame you fell out of love, but great that you came back to it. And yes, I know all about that ‘need’. I’ve described you in the introduction as being a ‘multi-genre author’, what genre do you generally write?
Rebeccah: I don’t have a specific genre. I like to poke my finger into many pies just to see if I can do it. My novel, Lexa Wright’s Dating Sights, is a chic lit romcom. That’s the first time I’ve written anything like that, and I really enjoyed it, so it’s something I may write again.
I tend to steer towards ‘real life’ writing, even if it is fiction. I love the idea of fantasy, where you can be as extreme as you want, making up unusual words and inventing mystical places, but I always find myself writing about things that could happen in reality. One day I’ll take the leap into something more exotic!
I think I’d consider all genres, and only decide against them once I’ve tried to write them and realise that I can’t do it, or I don’t enjoy it.
Morgen: My first-published novel is a chick lit and like you, it was great fun (just as well as I wrote the 117,540-word first draft for NaNoWriMo 2009. What have you had published to-date?
Rebeccah: In 2009 I was asked to write for a local magazine, The Kessingland and Broadland Times. I contributed children’s stories, articles, interviews and poetry to the bi-monthly publication. I have also self-published a collection of short stories; 12 Days of Krista May Rose, inspired by the traditional song, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and my full-length novel, Lexa Wrights Dating Sights. I published both books through Createspace for Amazon.
Morgen: I’m thinking of going that way for my novel, although I’m still getting constructive feedback on it so am waiting until that peters out. You’ve self-published, what lead to you going your own way?
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Tags: agent, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biographers, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, critique, erotic romance, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, feedback, fiction, flash fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Lowestoft, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mystery, mystery series, non-fiction, Northampton, novelist, novels, paranormal, paranormal romances, pinterest, poetry, poetry collections, publisher, Rebeccah Giltrow, rejection letters, rejections, romance, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, short stories, short story group, Smashwords, story author, story authors, story writer, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, Wordpress, writer, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing group, writing magazines, YA, youtube
Complementing my daily blog interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the one hundred and fifty-first, is of non-fiction author Kathryn Vercillo.
Kathryn Vercillo is a San Francisco-based freelance writer, blogger and crochet lover. Her most recent book, Crochet Saved My Life, is a non-fiction account of her experience using crochet to heal through depression.
Kathryn has also authored two previous books (Ghosts of San Francisco and Ghosts of Alcatraz) and a booklet of articles called When Grandma Isn’t Crocheting, She’s Hunting Big Game. She has been a contributing author on other book projects.
Kathryn’s work has been published in magazines including Latina Magazine and Skope. She has worked as a professional blogger for numerous websites including PC World, Dial-a-phone, SF Travel, and Houzz. Her online articles about crochet have been published around the web on sites that include Crochetvolution, Crochet Liberation Front, SF Indie Fashion and Handmadeology.
Her Crochet Concupiscence blog was voted one of the top 5 2012 craft blogs in Inside Crochet Magazine and was a 2011 runner-up for a Flamie award from the CLF.
Kathryn writes from the heart of personal experience, using her own unique view of the world as a starting point to connect with others. She fervently believes that writing should not only be used as catharsis and confession but also worked as a tool to create connections between people.
And now from the author herself:
I am the kind of writer who would write even if nobody ever read my words, the kind of writer who keeps journals and pens compulsively because of a deep inner need to put my own experience down.
I am lucky to live in a place and time where I am able to share my writing with others because I believe that writing can be an amazing way to connect with other people. We each have this great individual story to share and by doing so we open others to our world and open ourselves a bit to theirs as well.
My newest book, Crochet Saved My Life, really epitomizes my experience of this as a writer so far. The book begins with my own story of surviving a fifteen-year battle with depression. One of the ways that I did that was through the craft of crochet, which I found to have a multitude of benefits. It allowed me to relax, break a negative cycle of rumination, create something productive that rebuilt my waning self-esteem and served as a starting point of connecting with others in the crafty community.
I went on to interview nearly two dozen amazing women who shared their own stories with me about how crochet had helped them to heal from conditions as diverse as schizophrenia and pregnancy labor pains. I felt touched to be entrusted with these women’s stories and worked hard to share them in a clear, honest, approachable way.
I then supplemented all of this writing with extensive research into why arts and crafts are healing for people with many types of ailments. I looked at occupational therapy history, the history of crafting, art therapy models and found research to support the idea that a handcrafted hobby can be healing. So in the end, the book starts from my personal experience, includes the true stories of others and is rounded out by the research to be a whole project that is approachable by people from many walks of life, whether or not they’ve dealt specifically with depression or enjoy the craft of crochet.
I hope to continue this approach in all of my future projects as well. I want to always draw from the well of personal experience, hear different experiences from others and see what studies have been done that support this anecdotal evidence no matter what I’m writing about.
You can find more about Kathryn and her writing via…
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The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with novelist Rebeccah Giltrow – the six hundred and fourth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further. And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
or http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008E88JN0 for outside the UK **
You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel!) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.
For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.
As I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do, and a feature called ‘Short Story Saturdays’ where I review stories of up to 2,500 words (and post stories of up to 3,000 words). Alternatively if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me posting it online in my new Red Pen Critique Sunday night posts, then do email me. I am now also looking for flash fiction (<1000 words) for Flash Fiction Fridays and poetry for Post-weekend Poetry.
Tags: agent, Alcatraz, Amazon, author, author spotlight, Barnes & Noble, biography, books, characters, children’s, creative writing, crime, crochet, erotica, Facebook, fantasy, fiction, Goodreads, guest blog, guest blog post, guest post, historical, interview, Kathryn Vercillo, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, multi-genre, murder mystery, non-fiction, novelist, novels, paranormal, pinterest, poetry, publisher, rejection letters, rejections, romance, San Francisco, science fiction, second person viewpoint, self-publishing, Smashwords, story author, story authors, submissions, Twitter, vampire, western, writing, writing competitions, writing events, writing magazines, YA, youtube
