Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and forty-third, is of novelist and short story Gila Green.
Canadian Gila Green’s debut novel KING OF THE CLASS was released April 2013 in Vancouver (Now or Never Publishing www.nonpublishing.com). She has published tens of short stories in literary journals in Canada, U.S.A., Australia, Hong Kong and Israel including Fiction Magazine, Many Mountains Moving, Nothing But Red Anthology, Jewish Fiction, The Dalhousie Review, The Saranac Review and Tel Aviv Stories.
Seven of her stories have been nominated for international awards including the Best New Writing Eric Hoffer Award, The Walrus Literary Award and the TenTen Fiction Contest. She has received two Canadian literary fellowships.
Her first collection WHITE ZION was nominated for the Doris Bakwin Literary Award (Carolina Wren Press). When she is not taking care of her family, she writes, teaches and edits fiction. She is also a writing instructor on the WOW-Women on Writing Site (www.wow-womenonwriting.com). Visit Gila: www.gilagreenonline.com.
*
And now from the author herself:
Betrayal in my debut novel, a futuristic satire titled, King of the Class
Betrayal is a theme that threads through my entire debut novel, King of the Class.
On a macro level, the setting of the novel is the post-civil war Israel of the future; an entire nation has engaged in betrayal against itself.
On a micro level, heroine Eve Vee goes to sleep one night engaged to her fiancé, Manny Meretzky, and wakes up to find he has not only disappeared physically, but spiritually. The Manny she wanted to accompany through life in effect no longer exists. He has erased his previous value system in exchange for another and his duplicity becomes a river of deceit Eve cannot seem to cross.
Eve neither acknowledges Manny’s nobility in seeking a more meaningful life nor admires his desire to distance himself from what he perceives to be a shallow, materialistic value system. When Eve looks at Manny it is only his betrayal in its rawest form that she can see (Seeing is another theme in this novel, but that’s for another post).
It is not long before Eve confronts the questions: Is self-loyalty or allegiance to someone you love a higher value?
As the story progresses, the question expands: Are we loyal to our children over our spouses? And ultimately, where do communities lie in this hierarchy? Are we steadfast with regards to faith and community over anything else?
I was motivated to explore this theme for many reasons, but a central thorn in my side was the ongoing divisions and increasing number of sub-divisions I see around me daily. In as much as we have become a “global village”, many of us also seem to thrive on an increasingly vicious and ultimately self-defeating discourse that demonizes anyone else who doesn’t agree with our specific value system. Eve needed the help of something far outside of herself to move forward, but that’s the freedom of fiction.
**
You can find more about Gila and her writing via…
***
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.
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Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the eighty-second piece of flash fiction in this new weekly series. This week’s piece is a 697-worder by Joy V Smith. This story will be podcasted in episode 30 (with two other stories) on Sunday 28th July.
Carnies
Introduction to Paper on Pesticide Alternatives (Talk given by Dr. I. T. Saboutime)
There are still too many pesticides being used today. Spraying malathion in Florida thirty years ago to combat the Medfly outbreak decimated insect, bird, and fish populations; suits are still clogging the courts regarding liability.
After fruitless months of research on alternatives, I came across Randall Schwartz’s book, Carnivorous Plants. He states, “Carnivorous plants can be an organic alternative to insecticides. There are plants so efficient that they capture hundreds of ants each day, and others that consume literally thousands of mosquito larvae.”
I studied the 450 species of the passive, semi-active, and active plants. Here are the results of my work. I shall read excerpts from my journal.
Day 1: I bought a selection of carnivorous plants at the University of South Florida–Tampa campus–plant sale. They told me not to fertilize them. Too slow anyway. DNA’s the way to go, I think.
Day 4: I’ve dredged out a boggy area of a little over an acre to have plenty of room, and I ordered a selection of plant, herptile, bird, and animal DNA.
Day 62: Some of the carnivorous plants are reacting to the smorgasbord I’m putting out for them. The bald cypress DNA is working; the knees are spreading quickly, but only in water.
Day 97: Cindy found out what I was doing with the mice and called ALF (the Animal Liberation Front). I wasted two days in the hospital, then three weeks in the wheelchair. The Giant Drosera regiae (a sundew) of South Africa (which originally had leaves two feet long and was already capable of devouring small animals) are getting faster and more aggressive. (Must be the boa DNA.) One nearly got me yesterday, but I beat it off with a crutch. The small ones seem to be clustering in packs; it could be the wolf DNA.
Day 99: Roadkill a la Interstate seems to satisfy them; there should be plenty of that.
Day 146: Made a mistake introducing the stranglar fig DNA, I’m afraid. Pity about Cindy. (By the way, we might have an alternative to cremation here.)
Day 153: Haven’t gotten anywhere with the passive plants. Sulky little brutes.
Day 176: The drosophyllum, which is not a bog plant, is going further afield, and it’s territorial. This worries me.
Day 217: Two agricultural inspectors showed up today. Said they’d been getting complaints. I had to explain that carnivorous plants are often red. It’s caused by the sun. And that the Cephalotus’ mouth always looks like that.
I am sorry about the missing dogs and cats. I wonder… What about a pet plant–something you could give the run of the house. Those roaches certainly are a nuisance, and I haven’t seen any lizards or toads for a long time.
Day 231: It was not a good idea adding cobra DNA to the Darlingtonia californica (the cobra pitcher plant); I wanted to see if that would make it less passive, and it already had the fangs… Well, it certainly worked. If it hadn’t taken so long to get that mongoose DNA special order, there wouldn’t have been a problem. And the inspectors picked then to come back and poke around some more. Why would anyone put his finger into the mouth of a pitcher plant?!
In conclusion, I think confining the plants to Cedar Key is a bit drastic. Just because John Hammond couldn’t control his experiment… I mean, we are talking about plants here.
He noticed the audience staring wide-mouthed at something behind him. Then he heard the rustling. He smiled slightly, fished a fly swatter out of his back pocket, and gently tapped the tendrils curling around his feet. Other tendrils crawled in several directions, exploring the stage. “I told you to wait in the truck,” he said. Almost immediately he relented and pulled a candy bar out of another pocket and handed it down to a searching leaf. “I wanted one I could trust in the house,” he explained. “So I mixed in hummingbird DNA. What a sweet tooth.” He smiled indulgently at the plant beside him as it carefully unwrapped the candy bar.
I asked Joy what prompted this piece and she said…
My sister, Melody, has had carnivorous plants off and on over the years, and she had carnivorous plant books in her plant book library. So I was aware of them–pitcher plants, sundews, etc.–and always being interested in genetic engineering–not necessarily a good thing, of course, but I’ve read a number of science fiction stories about it, including little critters implanted on characters’ shoulders. So I started from her plants and studied her books. A lot of that information is factual, btw–except for the crosses… I have lots of fun writing those kinds of stories.
Very dark, just my cup of tea. 
Thank you, Joy.
Joy was born on a farm in Wisconsin and still love barns and the smell of silage (“an acquired taste,” she says). She lived in Boston after graduating from college, and is now back in Florida (not retired) where she spent some of her childhood.
After selling wildlife habitat in the country, she bought a foreclosure earlier this year and had to replace the kitchen, among other things. They’d even taken the kitchen sink! Thanks to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), which takes place each November, Joy’s now written three novels. She has three blogs:
***
If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here, or up to 5,000 words for critique on my Online Short Story Writing Group (links below).
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, Joy Smith, Joy V Smith, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Welcome to the twenty-fourth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story where the character hears a noise and then finds out what it is. I’m carrying on Wednesday’s Human Unfriendly. Below is my 140-worder.
*
Scratch, squeak, bark
Natalie’s attention turned away from the gun and to a scratching noise above her head.
As she walked up the stairs, the sound reminded her of the Glis-glis her father had found in the ceiling of their old garage.
The scratching stopped as she reached the landing and turned to face the front bedroom. She edged forward and paused in the doorway.
“Hello!” she whispered, then lunged at the wardrobe as the scratching resumed, and pulled open the door. There looking up at her with weary eyes was Patch, her eight-year-old Jack Russell. His tail wagged slowly but then realised who he was looking at and began squeaking. The squeaking turned to a bark as he looked beside her.
She stood up but before she could turn round, a heavy object struck her head and she dropped to the floor.
***
The Glis-glis is true, by the way.
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
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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, 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 my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and forty-second, is of multi-genre writer Jacob Singer.
Jacob Singer was born in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He schooled at the Central School, and Potchefstroom High School for Boys. After a three-month stint in the South African Navy as a ballottee, he went to London to study Pharmacy at Chelsea Polytechnic. It was there, after reading an article in the Readers Digest about the Tomlinson Report, that he realized the horror of the apartheid system in South Africa.
He became friendly with John Farmer, whose stepfather, Reg Sinclair was Chairman of Wilkinson Sword and Steel. They lived in Slough, and it was on a walk through the fields behind the house, after he and John walked to the top of a white tower, that they met a young girl who was hiding “from my security guards,” she said. A friendship was formed remembered to this day.
Returning to South Africa, five years later, he met and married Evelyn Jackson. Today they have 3 children and 7 grandchildren.
Living in Potchefstroom, a small town 72 miles from Johannesburg, Jacob became involved in the fight against the apartheid system of the National Party, that ruled the country after WWII. Believing that direct confrontation could never work, Jacob became a member of the National Party, at many meetings arguing and voting against the harsh laws being inflicted on the Indian and Coloured community in Potchefstroom. The National Party eventually asked for his resignation.
In his Pharmacy, he thumbed his nose at apartheid, by having Indian and Coloured staff working on the floor with the White staff, dressed in the same uniforms. Yes, he did make many enemies in the town, because of this, but he also made many friends. One of those friends was the Member of Parliament for Potchefstroom, Louis le Grange, a member of the National Party.
When years later, Louis was made Minister of Police, Jacob asked him, “Louis, after the horror of Sharpeville, and the death of Steve Biko, how can you accept this position?”
“Less people are killed, now that I am the Minister,” he answered.
A few years later, Jacob received a message from Louis, asking him to form a committee in Potchefstroom, to start educating the Africans that lived in Ikageng, the African township just outside the town.
“I would like you to start teaching them how to govern,” he wrote in a letter to Jacob. “Look for the leaders of the township, and meet with them at least once a month. They must learn committee procedures so that when they do take over the country, they will know how to manage and rule it effectively.”
Jacob formed a committee, with three friends. Seven Africans who were prominent leaders in Ikageng, joined them.
A year later, when in a riot, young students starting throwing stones at their school in Ikageng, he asked that all the leaders of these students meet in his pharmacy at 6 am the next morning. Five young children were there at 6 am. When they offered him their names, he told them, “No, I don’t want to know who you are. Let me call you A, B, C, D, and E.” He told them that education was very important to them, especially if they one day wished to rule the country; that rather than stone the school, they should stone Municipal Buildings or any building that housed a Government supporter.
After an hour, they left, promising that they would stop stoning the school.
Later that morning, Brigadier Stemmet of the South African Security Police visited the Pharmacy. He asked Jacob for the names of the 5 students that had visited him that morning. “With pleasure,” Jacob answered, “their names are A, B, C, D, and E.” Brigadier Stemmet walked out of the Pharmacy,
“We will no longer offer you or your family any protection!” he shouted angrily as he left the Pharmacy. That night, Gamboo, the families Bouvier dog was poisoned.
It was then that he encouraged his children to emigrate from South Africa. They chose Canada, and he and Evelyn joined them six years later once they had settled down, and no longer needed financial support.
It was then, leaving Potchefstroom and living in Johannesburg before emigrating to South Africa, that he wrote his first book Brakenstroom. Brakenstroom is a book of short stories about people he knew and stories he had heard from friends and family.
His second book, The VASE with the MANY COLOURED MARBLES was written while living in Vancouver, Canada. “It is a story I have lived with all my life,” he said when asked about the book. The Characters are people I knew, and still know.
*
And now from the author himself:
WHY I STARTED WRITING.
Growing up in South Africa as a child, was a wonderful experience. My mother loved and took care of me, but it was my Nanny that cleaned my room, made my bed, put away the clothes that I had left lying on the floor, and made my meals every day. She became my surrogate mother, walking me to school at 7 am every morning; playing with me when I came home from school, and making sure that I did my homework every day. It was only at supper time and weekends that I would spend time with my parents.
During the School holidays, when I was 15 years old, I would go to the Municipal swimming pool during the school holidays, intent on improving my swimming. Also, all my friends had gone to Habonim Camp at Leaches Bay in the Cape. It was then that I met Marla (not her true name). We would both spend the day at the pool, lying in the sun, burning a dark brown. When, at the end of the day, we would go to the local cinema, I could prove that I was a White, by showing my skin was white below my swimming costume line. Marla unfortunately could not. I had to have my father phone the manager and tell him that Marla was a White, and therefore could be let in.
It was years later that I met Marla’s mother, and listened to the story she told me. I have lived with it all my life, and decided that it was a story that had to be told.
It took me close to 5 years to write The VASE with the MANY COLOURED MARBLES. It is a story about Emily Kleintjies, how she jumped the racial barrier of apartheid, becoming a White, changing her name to Emma Kline. It was a difficult story to write bring back many painful memories.
Emily was classified by the South African race laws of that time as being a Coloured. In the 19th Century, the Coloured people of South Africa had similar rights to the Whites in the Cape Colony, though income and property qualifications affected them disproportionately. In the rest of South Africa, they had far fewer rights, and although the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910 gave them the right to vote, they were restricted to electing White representatives only.
“You must understand, Emily,” her father mumbled, “as part of the Coloured Community in South Africa, today we are classified as second class citizens by the government.”
“What does that mean?” Emily asked, not quite understanding what he was saying.
“You have grown up in District Six, amongst both Blacks and Whites, and you have been treated as equals by them. South Africa as a whole does not treat us as equals. The Whites come first, we the Coloureds with the Indians second, and the Blacks are at the bottom with the Coolies and Chinese somewhere in-between. When you go into Cape Town proper, you have seen benches marked, ‘For Whites Only.’ We as Coloureds are not allowed to sit on those benches.”
“But I have often sat on them, and no-one has bothered me,” Emily interrupted.
“I know,” her father answered, “that is because you were born with a lighter skin than any of us, and with hair that is light brown, long and straight. No White would think you were a Coloured. I know of many in our community who are angry at these laws, where the Whites squeeze us from the top, while the Blacks squeeze us from the bottom. We have to take cheap work, because the Whites do not believe that we are as clever as they are. They treat us like slaves, while many of our women are treated like whores at night, and our children age and die long before they should.”
After I had written it, I found an editor who made me rewrite the entire story. “You will write it as though you are writing a movie,” she advised. It took another year to rewrite.
I had written the book as two books. The first book was about Emma, the mother and the second book about Marla, the daughter. I was advised to combine both books into one book.
I had two friends read through the book, and check my facts. Once they had done this, I self published, after 15 publishers rejected the book. They all told me that in today’s world of eBook publishing, they were only publishing known authors.
**
You can find more about Jacob and his writing via… his website: www.jacobashersinger.com
***
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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jack Singer, Jacob Singer, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
I went to a small-but-mighty literature festival last Saturday down in Finchley, North London and wanted to share with you what went on. Here’s my report…
The Second Greenacre Writers Literary Festival
The stage!
My trusty Mrs Sat Nav brought me to the door of the Finchley (North London) Trinity Church Centre. Finding non-residential parking was more difficult but a two-minute drive and I got the last space down the hill, which meant a nice refreshing walk. I was over an hour early so had a cup of fruit tea and a banana (having resisted a nice array of cup cakes).
With the speakers tucked away in one of the side rooms, I didn’t get to speak to them, although I did get a quick chat with crime novelist (and interviewee) Leigh Russell as she came in – we’ve met in real life a couple of times – but I was happy sitting in the foyer as I got to see the comings and goings, plus for the first few minutes we were serenaded by a chap playing the piano!
The venue itself felt very church-like with its arched doors and small step up to the speaking platform. There was plenty of room with about fifty chairs, most of which were filled, and it felt very much like being in on the beginning, albeit it their second year, of a literature festival with great potential.
The man previously playing the piano, Mike as it turned out, gave a two-minute warning and a few people originally in the foyer joined us, followed by the guest authors and we were soon underway.
*
Lindsay (and Mark)
The event kicked off with a short welcome from Mike, another organiser Lindsay Bamfield, then her colleague, Rosie Canning, explained that the theme for the festival was ‘Truth and Fiction’. She then introduced C J (Chelsea) Flood.
CJ gave a synopsis of her book, Infinite Sky, then read out an extract featuring the main character Iris and her father. CJ explained that she started the book before she started her MFA at The University of East Anglia, and added that there was a lot of her father in the character’s father. Her real parents had split up as they do in the book but the mother is very little like her real mother. She then read another extract including the mother. There is a love interest, played by a young male traveller, which CJ said was a composite of some of the men she’s known thus far. A final extract was still from the daughter, Iris’, point of view but CJ did say that while she’d originally written the character Sam based on her brother he became less and less like him. One of the extracts (from Chapter 11) started ‘When we’d eaten more pancakes than was OK…’ which I loved. The writing was very descriptive and you could imagine yourself being there which is what good writing should do.
*
Leigh
Leigh Russell was then introduced, citing accolades from Jeffrey Deaver and Peter James. She started by telling the audience how she came to be a writer. She was walking through a park on a grey day and saw a man who made her feel uneasy then talking about seeing a hand sticking out of a bush. She then admitted the hand wasn’t there in real life but it gave her the idea for the story. Several men have since claim to have been that man(!). Leigh then wondered who the girl (belonging to said hand) was? Her boss would have missed her. Maybe she had a boyfriend who beats her up and is a suspect. Leigh’s first five books have two-word, two syllable titles but then they struggled with the sixth which is still a two-word title but with two then one syllable.
Leigh doesn’t set in a particular time so as not to date the books. Geraldine, the main character, moves to London in the fourth book and leave behind her colleague Ian Peterson… but Leigh’s readers like him so he appears in one chapter of the other books. Her publishers then wanted Leigh to write a spin off series so it made sense, she said, to write about Ian, so she’s now writing two books a year (as does Adrian Magson). Leigh explained that all her books are a mix of drama, character, tension, then read an extract from Road Closed which ended on a hook (the character is trapped in her bedroom with a dead mobile phone and a man with a knife outside). I have it (and her first book, Cut Short) but not read either (sorry Leigh!) yet but I can get to find out what happens next.
*
There were then four readings from Greenacre Writers members staring with Lindsay Bamfield who chose an extract from her fifty-something-Bridget-Jones-type novel which was set at a speed dating and very funny (and having written a forty-something-Bridget-Jones-type novel, I was paying particular attention).
Lindsay then introduced her co-writer Linda Dell and listed a variety of publications; short stories, seven books including self-help and novels. Linda read from an abridged chapter one of a children’s science-fiction story.
Rosie was next reading an extract of her story about a girl who could fly. She, in turn, then introduced Mark Kitchenham.
Mark admitted he’s a beginner and submitted the first draft of his novel to Cornerstones Literary Consultants who said it had potential despite Mark having written it as one long piece of prose because he thought line breaks a waste of paper, which made us all laugh. Mark read out an abridged short story set in First World War Poland with the main character as a young girl hiding with her parents. Although I’d not experienced anything like it, it was very realistic and well-written.
We then had a break for half an hour during which we could buy refreshments and signed books!
*
Lindsay then introduced Gina Blaxill who is a “local girl” and writes crime novels for teenagers. She compared her writing with her brother’s thesis which has loads of footnotes and nonfiction information. She said that although she can do crazy things in her writing, she has to be truthful up to a point, especially emotionally. In early drafts she had a girl go missing but she would have been seen on CCTV at a train station. She wanted another character hiding out in Liverpool Street Station but Gina’s parents then told her that the station wouldn’t be open 24 hours a day so she phoned the station asking questions about their cleaning. Another location is Heathrow but Gina is scared of flying (I’m not a fan) so had never been. She went along to take photographs, expecting to be suspected of being a terrorist, but no one paid any attention.
Gina added that she wants her writing to be accessible by young adults and that everything should feel real, the characters emotionally true. She said that YA hard to write for because of their life knowledge. Her audience is very smart and doesn’t want to be caught out. She wanted to know about technology so she reread her childhood crime books which had instances where they would now have used mobile phones.
Gina then read an extract from her second book, Forget Me Never, and afterwards added that someone had told her that once home, family or friends are threatened, it is the end of the character’s world and great motivation to defend them.
She then summarised her first novel, Pretty Twisted, and read an extract from it. The main character was comparing herself to her older sister and made a really interesting comment that they shared they the same eyes, nose and mouth yet they were very different (her older sister prettier so she pretended to be her when she was chatting to a guy online).
*
Sarah
Rosie then introduced Sarah Harrison (pictured). As Leigh had, Sarah thanked the Greenacre Writers Group and said how much she had enjoyed the talks by Gina and CJ as she assists a Young Writers group. Sarah recommends not writing what you know because we need identification, what we know all about keys us into the characters, and is why romantic novels are so popular. There are different kinds of love, ambition and place, and along the way there will be drama, jealousy etc.
Sarah went on to talk about how often people say they don’t think a film was like the book because the story will be seen differently for each reader.
Introducing her First book ‘Flowers of the Field’, Sarah said that she was going to write it a third of the length as the publisher wanted that but she “went mad”. She then thumped the book down on the table and said it was such good value because of the thump it makes.
Sarah said authors need to research but then only pass on small amounts to the reader although she admitted that she put too much into her early books (which I got the impression a number of the audience had read and really enjoyed).
Sarah said she has to work just as hard now despite having the same publishers since 1980. She usually starts writing early and will often find she’s written a page without really knowing it. She then read an extract from Flowers of the Field.
*
Liz
Lindsay then introduced the first of three more Greenacre Writers, Liz Goes.
Liz explained to the audience that she had wanted to write an autobiography but then ended up fictionalising it and it had grown to three books rather than one.
She then read an amusing extract from her third book, Not Quite An English Teacher.
Mumpuni
Rosie then introduced Indonesian writer / group member Mumpuni Murniati who read out her short story ‘The Drawing’ which was so well written you wouldn’t know that English was her second language.
Wendy
Lindsay then introduced Wendy Shillam who publishes her novella in segments on her blog once fortnight, and compares growing plants to writing: she said needs a deadline because plants have to be sowed at a specific time so she has to be as strict with her writing or they (it) wouldn’t be ‘planted’. I know that feeling (NaNoWriMo and Story a Day May).
Wendy read out an extract from her novel, the only story she said she’d written from a male point of view (my first – still in a file – was from a male pov too). Two of her characters are from Southern U.S. and Russia and Wendy made the writing all the more lively by using those accents (or tried to, she admitted).
*
Rosie
Lindsay introduced Alex Wheatle as judge of the short story competition which closes end September and the winners announced in November.
Rosie then introduced the panel (Sarah, Leigh, Josie, Alex and the moderator Allen Ashley).
Allen starting by asking Leigh about truth in fiction. She says she does a lot of research; about the police (she knows which station sells banana bread for example), market holders (banana boxes most sturdiest) – whatever the book requires because crime writing has to be more believable than many other genres.
Josie said there is a difference between truth and fact and that she had fictionalised her life.
Alex then said that JRR Tolkein had fought in the First World War and that there is a comparison in The Lord of the Rings and that most writers can put a lot of themselves into their writing, especially their first two or three books.
Alex, Josie, Leigh
Sarah mentioned that she’d written a book for Mills and Boon but she hadn’t stuck to their guidelines and so they didn’t publish it.
Allen asked how far from the truth is too far? Sarah talked about fantasy and said that although she doesn’t write it they have to have internal logic. She does write ghost stories and couldn’t be scary for the sake of it.
Alex said readers need to have characters they can believe in and / or relate to and quoted the recent account of the man, Ariel Castro, in America who had three women in his basement for over ten years.
Allen asked what must we do to stay true to ourselves? Sarah said writers should stick with their voice, not write what we think should be written, and be consistent. Leigh added that writers should write to the best of their ability and she rewrites endlessly. Writers should take their readers on a journey, saying that stories by writers like Kazuo Ishiguro are so well-written that she enjoys the writing and is not so fussed about the plot. Sarah disagreed and said she’s read stories that are not so well-written but is hooked on the story. I’m more in Sarah’s camp (sorry again, Leigh!).
Alex said he’s reread The Great Gatsby and wondered if the book would have been published these days because the characters were all so horrible. Personally, I love horrible characters but yes, if they’re all horrible then probably not because we have to root for at least one of them.
Allen then opened the topic of autobiography – how important is exact truth? Leigh said she had not delved in that area of writing but wouldn’t write something that offended people who are still alive.
Alex, Rosie, Josie, Leigh
Josie added that Gulliver’s Travel was sold as truth.
Sarah told the audience that she had recently read Rupert Everett’s and Jeanette Winterson’s autobiographies and although she preferred Rupert’s they showed two insights into two interesting lives.
Alex said he learned more about life from reading fiction (I’m definitely more of a fan of fiction).
Leigh concluded that in crime fiction there has to be some sort of moral order that will be realised by the end. It’s a way of playing through our fears because it’s not real.
Allen then invited questions and a lady asked Sarah to explain more about what she meant by a moral centre.
Sarah explained that if someone suddenly becomes immoral, you must have previously seeded it or it won’t make sense that they change so dramatically.
Allen quoted Kurt Vonnegut, saying that you have to give the reader a character you can root for and I agree completely.
Following on from what Wendy had said about writing a male character, the panel was then asked about writing outside your gender.
Allen said that he only writes as a woman in short stories, anything longer would be from a male pov.
Leigh talked about writing new series from Ian’s pov saying that she will do lots of research including getting her husband to help.
Josie said it’s easier to write as a man rather than as a lawyer – she does have a point.
Leigh came back with that you could shadow a lawyer, as she does with the police, and that she doesn’t want to use stereotypes when describing what men do.
Wendy concluded the topic by explaining that her character has worries that anyone would have so didn’t have to go into too much detail.
Mark then asked the panel whether they’d ever received critique they didn’t agree with.
Leigh reassured us writers that you don’t have to agree with what you’re told, especially if you have written something for a specific purpose.
Two down, many to go…
The festival then ended with thanks to the authors and fellow members of the Greenacre Writers.
Conclusion
Apart from the parking issues, and the armed chairs being a little too snug for my writer’s bottom (thank you Jane Wenham-Jones for creating that term!), the venue was great although I can see it outgrowing as it gains in popularity. Let’s hope so!
***
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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:
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We look forward to reading your comments.
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Welcome to the twenty-third in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from the picture below (drawn, and the prompt supplied, by Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Below is my 831-worder.
*
It Wasn’t Me
Gwynne looked down at the ripped toy, then into the big brown eyes staring up at her.
“It wasn’t me.”
“Really? Then who was it? There’s only you and I here.”
The big brown eyes kept staring. “Alright. I confess. It was me but it’s your fault for-”
“Henry! You’ve become so cheeky since we gave you the ability to talk.”
Henry wagged his tail.
Gwynne was pretty sure that had enhanced since they, her and her boss, Dr Temple Horne, had injected the dog with the experimental speech drugs. “I thought that toy was your favourite.”
“I was only playing.”
“It’s got dribble all over it. You were shaking it weren’t you?”
Henry nodded. “It’s what we do. We’re dogs. We chase rabbits, cats and things.”
“Anything that moves, I know.”
“So you give me a cat toy and I’m going to-”
“Chase, Henry. You didn’t need to rip it to shreds.”
“It’s not shreds. An ear’s come off, that’s all.”
“What did I say about you being cheeky?”
“Just speaking my mind.”
“If I’d known…”
“What?”
“Nothing. Never mind. Now, Dr Horne and I have some things we want you to do. When we ask you questions, we want your honest answers, OK?”
Henry nodded.
Right on cue, Dr Horne, entered the lab, studying a clipboard. “How is he today?”
“I’m well, thank you.”
Dr Horne looked up from his notes. “Henry?”
Henry smiled. “That’s me.”
“So everything’s OK. Voice alright?”
“More than alright,” Gwynne answered. “Can’t shut him up.”
“I did think it was weird to start with,” Henry said. “I could hear myself. Of course I could always hear myself but it’s like it was clearer, louder and…”
Dr Horne watched Henry’s lips move as he waffled on. “Your lips are moving.”
Henry stopped mid-stream. “Of course. I’m no ventriloquist.”
Dr Horne laughed, looked at Gwynne’s scowl, and laughed again.
Henry turned to Gwynne. “You said you had some questions?”
“Yes. Dr Horne?”
The doctor looked back down at his clipboard. “Number 1. How do you feel?”
Henry frowned and repeated, “I’m well, thank you.”
“Number 2. Has anything else improved since the implementation of the medication?”
“‘implementation of the medication’,” Henry mimicked. “Like what?”
“Memory? Vocabulary? Desires? Motivations?”
“Erm…”
“Maybe a bit too much all at once,” Gwynne suggested.
“No, it’s OK,” Henry said. “Memory. The same, I think. Born, eat, poop, chew…” He looked at the toy. “I couldn’t help it.”
“That’s OK, Henry,” Dr Horne soothed. “That’s what they’re there for. Any frustrations?”
“Apart from it not being a real cat?”
Dr Horne laughed and put a large tick in the ‘sense of humour’ box.
“You asked about vocabulary,” Henry continued.
“Yes,” Gwynne butted in. “And Desires, Motivation.”
“Vocabulary. Now I like hearing the sound of my voice-”
“We can tell,” Gwynne mumbled, receiving a dirty look from Henry.
“It’s not like I’ve studied a dictionary since you gave me that stuff.”
“Interesting,” Dr Horne said while chewing on the end of his pen.
Henry didn’t find that interesting at all. He’d quite like to spend his time studying not only a dictionary but an encyclopaedia as well, but thought that a step too far at this early stage. “As for desires. I still desire to rip up…” He looked up at Gwynne and paused. “Desire to play with my toys. That was an accident. Motivation, being given a fake cat is a good one.”
“Very good.” The doctor nodded and jotted more notes. “Question 4. If you could be any animal what would you be?”
Henry tilted his head.
“Would you like me to repeat that?”
Henry straightened his head again. “You mean you can change me into something else?”
Dr Horne laughed. “Of course not, Henry. We can only work with what we have.”
“That’s a silly question then isn’t it?”
“It’s hypothetical.”
Henry now wished he’d had that dictionary.
“Pretend,” Gwynne added, seeing the expression on his face.
“A giraffe.”
The two white-jacketed humans looked at each other.
“A giraffe?” Gwynne asked.
“Why a giraffe, Henry?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
The doctor shook his head.
“Because all I see all day are ankles. Knees if I’m begging, which I don’t plan on doing again any time soon, by the way. If I was… were a giraffe I’d be able to see anything, wouldn’t I? Even more than you. Any more questions?”
Dr Horne nodded. “A few but I think that’s enough for today.”
Gwynne looked at him startled, so he beckoned for her to join him in the corridor.
Henry watched them leave then turned his attention to the one-eared cat. “They’ll be giving that stuff to you next, although they’d have to sew your ear back on or you wouldn’t be able to hear their questions.”
He then looked back at the glass pane in the door, saw the ecstatic expression on their faces. “If you’re like that now, just wait until I show you what I can really do.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
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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 my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and forty-first, is of non-fiction writer Dominick Domasky.
Dominick Domasky is a loving father, devoted husband, and a cold calling, door knocking insurance salesman by day. He started writing his first motivational book in 2005, which is now waiting for a final release date, and is due out this spring. The book is titled “Don’t Double Bread the Fish” and is a collection of humorous and touching stories about failure, persistence, and finding success.
Although Mr.Domasky started writing “Don’t Double Bread the Fish” in 2005, his tale begins long before that. He grew up pulling weeds, picking up cigarette butts, and doing all the odd jobs for the family landscape company. There he learned the value of hard work and that success wasn’t easily achieved or earned over night. Dominick carried those early lessons throughout his life from algebra to sales, and bench warming to business ownership. The only problem was he failed, over and over.
That being said, “Don’t Double Bread the Fish” is a story about letting No Failure Define You and never giving up. When Dominick began writing this book he was in financial ruins. The business he and his wife had invested everything in failed and left them with nearly a half million dollars in debt. While Dominick was trying to begin a new career and new chapter of his life he still bared the open wounds of the past. Each time it seemed like a fresh start was near, Dominick was reminded of that early lesson, success wasn’t easily achieved. For every step forward there were three steps backwards, from being hunted by the law to countless lawsuits. When Dominick and his wife Liz were able to finally bask in the glow of her new pregnancy after years and years of trying the IRS and creditors were calling demanding more. For every joy, another setback!
*
And now from the author himself:
I always asked myself, “How could a guy with my resume of stench like mine write a book about success?” I wrote for years and years, but I couldn’t answer that question. Then it hit me like a brick. I had always been searching for success, but Who Defines Success? What I learned is YOU DO! After years of setbacks, getting butter wiped in my hair, being punched in the face, getting cut from the team, weeding in the snow, filing bankruptcy, I learned No Failure Will Ever Define You (which is also chapter 39).
My dad bought me a book by Og Mandino when I was thirteen and paid me one hundred dollars to read it. My dad believed in its message so much he was willing to pay my sister and me a hundred beans at the chance the message might soak in. At the time I read the book just to pocket the hundred bucks, but guess what; A little seed was planted in me which dominated that book, my life and now Don’t Double Bread the Fish; that message is I must persist until I succeed.
I started writing my goals in a tiny notebook when management at my first sales job encouraged it. From that first day forward I continued to write my goals. Then soon after I begin to write about the people I had met and the lessons I had learned along the way all in that tiny notebook. For years I’d pull off the road to write a quick thought or sometimes even risk bodily harm to scribble an idea I deemed interesting while navigating the Pennsylvania highways. Then one late night I decided my notebooks weren’t good enough. I began transferring my thoughts letter by letter and line by line into my home computer. Being that I’m the worst typist in the world and not a writer by trade, the process to write the story I wanted to tell the world took years. Laughter, skepticism, and disbelief were just a normal part of the journey when I began to tell my family and friends I was writing a book. They laughed and I wrote. They doubted and I believed in me. The more they doubted the closer I got, the closer I got the more I believed in me.
Eventually after nearly seven years of working on my baby, “Don’t Double Bread the Fish” I was ready to share it with the world. I believed in myself and I found a publisher Motivational Press that does too. They’re a motivational publisher that’s supports their authors and I’m a guy who has shoveled a lot of ditches and believes he has something to say. I have a positive message I need to share and Motivational Press knows how to get it out to the world.
Keep your eyes peeled because “Don’t Double Bread the Fish” will be hitting book stores, clubs and the internet soon.” But before signing off, more important than looking for my book, if that’s meant to be it will happen; Remember this No Failure Will Ever Define You!”
**
Dominick Domasky can be found daily on Twitter @domd1000 tweeting messages of hope, persistence, and inspiration.
***
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.
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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, 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, Dominick Domasky, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of lively writing, is brought to you by humorous mystery / romantic suspense novelist and ‘how to’ writer Morgan St James.
Do you write like a Zombie or with Zest? – Keep it fresh
It is unbelievably easy to slip into the habit of doing what you’ve already done, or even to revamp what someone else has written without realizing it.
Zombie-like writing means using the same thing over and over by rote. Writing like a zombie is not okay unless it’s paranormal and you’ve just gotten into the character of one of the living dead.
Most writers recognize there are only a given number of basic plots. The many variations result in books and screenplays we love. Also, there are only a given number of character types. The widest variety is in a multitude of possible settings. Here is where the trick comes in—how to work with plots and character-types that have already been used in some form or another and make it sound fresh and original. The challenge is to keep an open mind while developing the story. Sometimes an author writes the same story over and over with a slight change in characters or situations, as though one of the aforementioned living dead produced the manuscript. When this happens, readers might think they’ve read the book before.
Other times, it’s just a case of the writer being lazy and producing a new story by adding a few quirks or situations here and there. Once they are peeled away the story is almost the same as a previous one.
Then there is the situation where a series you loved in the past has somehow gotten stale. In fact, a few times I’ve picked up such a book and after a few chapters had to ask myself, “Where’s the zest? Where is that wonderful writing I loved so much?” That’s when you realize a zombie could have written it because the author has “played that song before” and all they did was change a few pertinent details without breaking a sweat. Wait a minute — do zombies sweat?
No matter. The point is to remember you must breathe life into everything you write. Back in the 1970’s one of my relatives by marriage was co-owner of a major animation studio. I happened to be in his office one day when a writer popped in. They had a brief discussion about the plot for an upcoming episode. It went something like this:
“How about using that story from the dogcatcher episode we did last year? You know — if we change the dog to a cat, move a few things around, we’ve got a script.”
I don’t recall the writer’s exact answer, but it went something like: “Hmmm. No, I like the runaway story from last November better. Better opportunities for changes and it would feel fresher.”
That happened many years ago, and I have no idea of what they finally did, but from the conversation I’d bet the final script was probably the same old plot line with a fresh application of makeup.
A few months later, with that conversation still in mind, I checked out TV listings. That day no less than three diverse shows, all set in distinctive places with different themes, had the exact storyline and were broadcast within half-an-hour of each other.
Sometimes you don’t even recognize your own zombie-like writing until someone else points it out.
“Hey, Johnnie — that really sounds like your last book. The guy discovers his wife cheating, convinces her to take out a big insurance policy, then hires a hitman.”
“What are you talking about? In this book it’s the girl who discovers her fiancé cheating, decides to cheat on him and winds up plotting to kill him.”
“And collect…”
“Uh, oh. On the insurance policy he took out naming her as beneficiary when they became engaged.”
Taking the second scenario, see how many different ways that story could be told without emulating Johnnie’s previous book. Here are a few prompts:
- Is it a comedy, a thriller, romance or other genre?
- Does he actually kill her or does it blow up in his face?
- Does the fiancé, who didn’t really cheat on the woman, discover she met with the hitman and turn the tables?
- Maybe she was wealthy and he not only cheated physically but ripped her off. What would turn this into a revenge story?
- A mistaken identity story?
- What if they talk it out, discover neither was really cheating and live happily after?
- Does a third person enter the equation?
There are a multitude of possibilities to spice it up while still following the same basic premise. And, if you’re running out of ideas, true stories in the news on TV, newspapers and online, can provide wonderful inspiration. Maybe your story becomes a composite of a few items, or maybe you just follow the invaluable “what if” path to create something from the starting point of the news story. Comedy, romance, mystery—it really doesn’t matter. Once you have that kernel of an idea, it’s up to you to run with it.
Think about the things that would keep you turning the pages. Dip back into your memory and dig out experiences that might make sense in the story. Expand that. Think about funny or chilling stories that were told to you by someone you know. Start to weave the tapestry of a plot with the threads of reality.
Remember to use details. Make your characters and locations pop to life with details. Not information dumps, but the bits and pieces that make them seem real. Create characters who are someone you would or would not like to know. The pounding heart when you’ve almost hit another car, the delight of a cool breeze on a hot day, the sound of children’s laughter as the character approaches a playground. Sights, sounds, textures all woven into a tightly wrapped story.
That’s zesty writing.
*
I’m definitely a zester (I hope!). Thank you, Morgan.
Award-winning Author / Speaker / Columnist Morgan St. James’ short stories appear in Chicken Soup for the Soul books and other anthologies.
She writes the comical Silver Sisters Mysteries series with her real sister, Phyllice Bradner, has written several novels on her own, and over 500 published articles relative to the craft of writing and people in the industry, as well as the book Writers’ Tricks of the Trade: 39 Things You Need to Know About the ABCs of Writing Fiction.
Her most recent books are Who’s Got the Money, a Finalist in the USA Best Books Awards, co-authored with Meredith Holland.
It a funny crime caper about embezzling from the Federal prison system and the upcoming La Bella Mafia, a true crime book co-authored with Dennis Griffin as told to them by an amazing woman, Bella Capo.
St. James is an entertaining speaker, presents workshops and frequently appears on author’s panels.
She edits and publishes of the online bi-monthly eZine Writers Tricks of the Trade and writes columns for the Los Angeles and Las Vegas editions of Examiner.com.
All of her books are available at Amazon worldwide and many other online bookstores.
Visit her websites:
***
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
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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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, Morgan St James, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Welcome to the twenty-second in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from: Natalie arrives home from work and is perplexed that her dog is not there to greet her as usual. In fact, he is nowhere to be seen or heard. Even more disturbing is the semi-automatic pistol sitting on her coffee table and the sound of running water from the kitchen. Below is my 295-worder.
*
Human Unfriendly
Natalie looked under the sofa, Patch’s usual hiding place, but other than dust and a couple of his toys, it was empty.
She was less bothered about the gun lying on the coffee table. She’d not seen it before, it was the longest he’d ever had, but Granddad was often lying strange objects around the house; this one likely to be a new addition to his collection.
One thing he never did though was take Patch for a walk. Letting him out in the garden was as good as it got and she hoped that was what he’d done but Granddad was not what you would call animal-friendly, or human-friendly. He barely tolerated Natalie.
Natalie’s attention then turned to the running water in the kitchen. Washing hands or washing up? It had been running for too long to be either.
She walked through to the kitchen, expecting to see some sign of life but the only thing moving was the water, so she turned if off and tried the back door. As she thought, it was locked.
Looking around the room there was nothing out of place. Granddad if nothing else was fastidiously clean and tidy. She returned to the lounge and called again, waiting for paws or footsteps but the house gave nothing away.
Upstairs was no different; everything in its place. Coming down the stairs, she looked at the coat hooks and Patch’s lead was still there so a miracle hadn’t happened.
She called for them again but knew it was futile.
The gun was the only thing that had changed since she’d left that morning so she went to it, knelt down, and touched it, using the backs of her fingers, she knew better than to leave fingerprints. The gun was warm.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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 my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and fortieth, is of multi-genre author Kathleen Kaska.
Kathleen Kaska writes fiction, nonfiction, travel articles, and stage plays. She has just completed her most challenging endeavor, The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Robert Porter Allen Story, a true tale about Audubon ornithologist Robert Porter Allen whose mission was to journey into the Canadian wilderness to save the last flock of whooping cranes before encroaching development wiped out their nesting site, sending them into extinction. Published by University Press of Florida, the book was released on September 16, 2012 and has been nominated for the George Perkins Marsh award for environment history and the Washington State Book Award for history / general nonfiction.
Kathleen also writes the award-winning Sydney Lockhart mystery series set in the 1950s when women were caught between the dichotomy of career and marriage; when fashion exploded with a never-before-seen flair; and movies and music had the country dancing with gusto. Her first mystery, Murder at the Arlington, won the 2008 Salvo Press Manuscript Contest. This book, along with her second mystery, Murder at the Luther, were selected as bonus-books for the Pulpwood Queens Book Group, the largest book group in the country. Murder at the Galvez was released on December 7, 2012.
Before bringing Sydney into the world of murder and mayhem, Kathleen published three mystery-trivia books in the Classic Triviography Mystery Series: The Agatha Christie Triviography and Quiz Book, The Alfred Hitchcock Triviography and Quiz Book , and The Sherlock Triviography and Quiz Book. The Alfred Hitchcock and the Sherlock Holmes trivia books are finalists for the 2013 EPIC award in nonfiction.
When she is not writing, Kathleen spends much of her time traveling the backroads and byways around the country, looking for new venues for her mysteries and bird watching along the Texas coast and beyond. It was her passion for birds that led to the publication The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane: The Man Who Saved the Whooping Crane.
After graduating from University of Texas at Austin with a degree in physical anthropology, Kathleen taught middle-school science for 25 years. She was a staff writer for AustinFit magazine from 1997-2002. Her articles have appeared in Cape Cod Life, Marco Polo, Agatha Christie Chronicle, and Home Cooking Magazine. She is a frequent contributor to Texas Highways magazine.
When too road weary, she splits time between her two favorite places, the Pacific Northwest and the Texas Coast. It’s tough though, having been born with the original sin of wanderlust. Nonetheless, her laptop is nicely stowed in her bag and a bird-reference book and binoculars are always on the front seat.
*
And now from the author herself:
Beginning, Middle, End Unknown
I didn’t start writing until I was almost forty. I was teaching at the time, and when I came to the point where I felt comfortable in the classroom, I finally decided it was time to write that book. I knew I wanted to write mysteries, but I also knew it was easier to break into publishing with nonfiction. Trivia books were becoming popular, and I decided to make use of my complete Agatha Christie collection by writing the Agatha Christie trivia book. I queried an agent, he signed me on as a client, and within a month we had a contract. I followed the Christie book with the Alfred Hitchcock trivia book, and then the Sherlock Holmes trivia book. What an education that was. In doing my research I had a chance to dissect and analyze books, short stories, plays, and screenplays written by Christie, Conan Doyle, and Hitchcock. All three books were picked up by a new publisher, LL-Publications in early 2012, and reissued last May.
When I began writing my own mysteries, the hardboiled detective writers, Dashiell Hammett, Mickey Spillane, Rex Stout, and Raymond Chandler, were my biggest influences. I modeled my protagonist, reporter Sydney Lockhart, after those wisecracking tough guys. I like to think of Sydney as a female Phillip Marlowe. She’s brash, bossy, and too outspoken for her town good. She stands five feet ten inches and has a head of wild curly red hair. Being a woman in a man’s work, she often disguises herself as a man in order to get her stories.
My series is set in the early 1950s. I chose this decade because it was a pivotal time for women in terms of lifestyle choices. I write about an independent woman, struggling to make it on her own, not an easy feat back then.
Each story takes Sydney on an assignment to a different historic hotel. The places I write about are real. The readers have an opportunity to travel back in time and discover what life was like in these old hotels. In my first book, Murder at the Arlington, which takes place at the Arlington Hotel in a Hot Springs, Arkansas, I write about the world of gambling and gangsters, which went underground after the town was cleaned up in the 1940s.
In book two, Murder at the Luther, Sydney is on the Texas coast covering the infamous New Year’s Eve Ball at the Luther Hotel in Palacios. Her celebration turns sour when finds herself dancing with a dead man. With her fingerprints on the murder weapon and a police chief who has his own agenda, Sydney ushers in the New Year behind bars. But the gal lands on her feet and soon there’s another hotel, another murder, and another attempt on Sydney’s life. When she discovers that the unsolved murder of her grandfather eighteen years earlier is linked to a string of killings in Galveston, Texas, Sydney finds herself smack dab in the middle of Murder at the Galvez.
I’m working on book four now. Sydney’s back home in Austin, Texas, so I selected the Driskill Hotel as the venue for murder. I’m excited about this book because Austin was my home for twenty-five years. My research allowed me to discover what the town was like in the 1950s before it grew to a city of almost a million.
Each hotel has a story to tell and I write that story into my mysteries. Look for Murder at the Driskill early next year.
**
You can find more about Kathleen and her writing via…
***
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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, Kathleen Kaska, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Tonight’s guest blog post, on the topic of switching genre, is brought to you by horror, crime, thriller writer, Flash Fiction Fridayer, interviewee and spotlightee Andy Kirby.
The Non-fiction Rollercoaster: On moving from Fiction to non-Fiction
Hi y’all
Andrew Kirby here. For those regular visitors to the site, I was Morgen’s Author Spotlight no. 54, and you might also remember I Guest Blogged here in early 2012. It’s great to be back.
Last time I was here, I guest-blogged on my fiction writing. I’m the author of six published novels of the crime/ noir / horror flavour, and I talked about the “inner workings” of my fiction writing, and how I came to be published. Today, I’m here to talk about something entirely different. Back in 2012, I couldn’t have imagined that my next book wouldn’t be haunted by ghosts and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night, and I could hardly have contemplated the fact that the book would be factual and not concerned with the terrors of my imagination.
So let me tell you about how I made the shift from fiction to non-fiction (not forever, I stress) and what some of the sometimes unintended consequences and considerations of this seismic change have been for me as a writer.
It all started innocently enough. I submitted a crime / noir novel to a publisher I’d heard good things about on the writing grapevine. That publisher was Endeavour Press, a company that “aims to create the world’s most stimulating electronic books by publishing novellas & essays by new & established authors.”
I was kind of hopeful my novel, When Elephants Walk Through The Gorbals would be to their taste. But when I heard back from them, their email was full of the usual platitudes you’ll see in any common or garden rejection letter. It talked about the story being “too long”. It claimed the book needed a major rewrite. And so, disappointed, I filed the mail away for later.
Like an idiot, I didn’t read what the mail then went on to say.
So it was a week or so later. I was clearing out my inbox, and I happened upon the same email. Opened it. Read it in full. And it was only then I realised it hadn’t been a common or garden rejection letter at all. In fact, within this mail, the seeds were sown for the project I have just released as a non-fiction ebook (with a paperback to follow). You see, Endeavour Press read my biography and covering letter – with particular reference to my reviewing and sports-writing – and they suggested an alternative project which would be a better fit with them. They wanted me to write a book on football.
As I am a Manchester United season-ticket holder – and have been for over a quarter of a century – they proposed a commission which required me to write about the greatest United players during this period – which just so happened to coincide with the reign of the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.
I’d never even considered writing about my favourite football team before, despite all the knowledge, the memories, the contacts, I’d accrued. I don’t know why. I suppose there is a lesson here for all writers: be open to possibility, no matter how left-field they initially seem.
I loved the process of writing the book. It was a far more ‘community-based’ way of writing. It was far removed from my usual lonely tapping away at a keyboard. During March, April, and May, I conducted interviews, polls of fellow fans across the world, and compiled my team of Manchester United greats. Then, on a crest of a wave, and with some brilliant quotes to hand, I wrote the book. And, when Manchester United secured their record twentieth league championship, I thought the book would be released at an ideal time. The book was to be called ‘Fergie’s Finest: Sir Alex Ferguson’s Greatest Manchester United x11’.
But then came another object lesson in the pitfalls of non-fiction, especially when you choose to write about a ‘newsy’ subject. Because unlike archeologically ‘uncovering’ the imaginative stories from inside your head, in the case of non-fiction, and in this case sport, the narrative continues. It pays no heed to what you’ve already written, and the nice conclusions you’ve drawn.
Overnight, everything changed. From out of the blue, Sir Alex Ferguson, the man in question, retired. And suddenly, my manuscript had to be revised. It needed to be changed quickly, too, in order to strike while the iron was hot; while Sir Alex Ferguson was still the name on the nation’s lips.
Hastily, I revised the text, and submitted to Endeavour. And Endeavour played their part wonderfully. With the speed and finesse of a great footballer, they edited, formatted, and made suggestions for changes to my text. They produced a cover design. Between us, we plotted a marketing campaign which would get word of the book ‘out there’. And we managed to get the book out there, with the title ‘Fergie’s Finest’ remaining, while the news was still hot. I’m a writer who likes to take my own sweet time but now I was to learn the true meaning of the word ‘deadline’.
It was hard work. A stiff lesson for me. But we managed it, and I can’t thank Endeavour Press enough. It was the most fun I ever had in writing a book, and though it was a white-knuckle ride, we got there in the end.
I’ll definitely be riding the non-fiction rollercoaster again, sometime. Once I’ve got my breath back.
*
Synopsis: ‘Fergie’s Finest: Sir Alex Ferguson’s Greatest Manchester United x11’
Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager of Manchester United on Wednesday 8th May 2013.
We will never see his like again.
He is the most successful manager in the history of English football. During over 26 years at the club, United won – including Charity / Community Shields – an eye-watering 38 trophies, including 13 league championships. And over this period, fans have been lucky enough to have witnessed some of the greatest moments, the greatest players, and the greatest teams in Manchester United’s long, proud history.
In between Fergie’s taking over from Ron Atkinson in 1986 and his retirement in 2013, he handed over 185 players their United debuts. Fans have witnessed global superstars, and players who’ve risen up through the United ranks. They’ve seen big-hearted players who’ll give everything for the team, and skilled wizards who are individually streets ahead of the rest.
But which players deserve to be ranked as the greatest ever in the Ferguson era?
Who makes the final cut, and who misses out?
How do Cristiano Ronaldo, Eric Cantona, Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane, Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Dwight Yorke, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Michael Carrick, Jaap Stam, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Gary Neville, and Andy Cole fare when it comes to the selection of the ultimate ‘Team Fergie’?
Containing interviews with the ex-United hero Norman Whiteside, Ken Loach (director of Looking for Eric), poet John Hegley, United fanzine editor Scott the Red, and The Sun’s Manchester United correspondent Neil Custis, this book considers the leading contenders for each position in Sir Alex Ferguson’s greatest ever x11.
Available from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fergies-Finest-Fergusons-First-ebook/dp/B00CPPNTJ2
*
Thank you, AJ. It’s great to have you back.
Andrew J Kirby’s sports writing has featured in BBC Sport magazine, on the Radio Five Live website, and in Home Defence UK magazine, where he writes about ‘non-league football hooligans’. He spent a season writing for the Professional Footballers’ Association on their website Give Me Football. He has held a Manchester United season ticket for the entirety of the Sir Alex Ferguson reign at Old Trafford, and regularly follows the Reds across Europe and beyond.
He also writes award-winning crime / noir fiction as AJ Kirby, and has five published novels under his belt (Sharkways, 2012; Paint this Town Red, which was shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize 2012; Perfect World, 2011; Bully, which charted as an Amazon genre number 1 in 2009; The Magpie Trap, 2008), as well as two collections of short stories (The Art of Ventriloquism, a collection of crime shorts, which was released August 2012, and Mix Tape 2010), three novellas (The Haunting of Annie Nicol, 2012; The Black Book, 2011; Call of the Sea, 2010), and over fifty published short stories, which can be found widely in print anthologies, magazines and journals and across the web in zines, writing sites and more. His short fiction has won numerous awards at UK literary festivals.
He also reviews fiction for The New York Journal of Books.
To find out more, check out Andrew’s author website here: www.andykirbythewriter.20m.com, or his blog, here: http://paintthistownred.wordpress.com.
***
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.
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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, 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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Welcome to the twenty-first in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from the following prompt:
- Imagine a person with a very idiosyncratic way of seeing the world (for example, a low-end drug dealer who’s perpetually paranoid because he’s sure everyone wants to steal his stuff; or an accountant for whom everything is numerical and anally precise)—anyone who, because of mental challenges, profession, or self-medicated state, negotiates the world in a distinctly peculiar, complicated, or unhinged way. For this prompt, have your character witness a traumatic event that does not directly involve him or her (a traffic accident, a robbery, an explosion, etc.). Narrate the event from this character’s first-person POV, incorporating the idiosyncrasies of this invented personality.
The first person that sprung to mind (from the ‘mental challenges’) was the protagonist from my (free) short story Feeding the Father so I’ve used him again but gone back in time.
Below is my 984-worder.
*
Leaving a gap
Hello diary. Hello Diary. Mum bought you for me for Christmas and I am so excited. I doh doent do not know whether to wait until January the first or start now. Next year is a whole week away and we’ve had such a great Christmas Day so I think I am going to start now. I am. OK, new line.
Dad was being a bit quiet today. I think he ate too much. So did I.
Mum was busy cooking so hers was colder than ours because she wanted to do the washing up before she had hers and she had less than us, I do not think she was hungry. She told us not to wait so we did not. I felt a bit bad but Dad said we should do as we were told so we did. I did not eat as quickly as him because I wanted to still be eating when Mum came to the table. Oh yes, you will not know that the kitchen table is now in the dining room. Yes, we have a dining room! So the kitchen table is now the dining room table. I do not think it minds. In fact I think it is really happy. I am happy too because I like it here. It’s bigger than our old flat. This one has an upstairs, where we sleep, which means I have to come downstairs if I need a drink of water when I cannot sleep. Mum suggested – suggested means that she was giving me a good idea – but I did not think it was a good idea so I did not do it. She suggested that I take a glass of water to bed, when I go to bed, but it will get warm. I said that to her and she said it was OK. This place is warmer than the flat. It has fancy white windows with two pieces of glass in each one! So I did not bring any water to bed. I do not mind getting up and going to the kitchen because I get cold and my bed is still warm when I get back.
I am going to say goodnight now because I am tired and it is late. Nearly ten oclock. If I get up to get some water, I might say hello but nothing will have happened for me to report other than me going downstairs and getting the water so I probably will not.
Good morning diary. It is December the 26th.
December 26 – Boxing Day
Good morning Diary. I forgot that diaries have the dates at the top so I have gone back to yesterdays and put December 25 – Christmas Day at the top, just in little writing because I did not leave much space.
This is not a normal diary because it does not have the dates at the top. Mum said she did not want to buy me one of those because it would mean that I could only write on one page and she said I should write whatever I wanted. She called it a journal – she helped me spell it – but it sounds silly to say Hello Journal so I have called it you a Diary. Not a diary with a little d because you are a person like me because when I read you you talk to me.
There are lines so I can write in straight lines. I like it. I try to make my handwriting nice, like I was teached tort at school. That was a long time ago. I am too old to go to school now.
Nothing really happens at home so I do not know if I would fill a whole page anyway but it does mean that I can put two days on one page if I want to. I left a gap on yesterdays because we had a busy day so I can tell you what happened. I will do it later. I will not forget. I have a good memory.
Mum is calling me to go downstairs for breakfast so I am going now but I will write more later.
—-
I have put a line there because it means that I am not here for a while.
December 28 – The Day After The Day After Boxing Day
Sorry I have not written anything for two days. I have left lots of lines so I can write what happened yesterday. I have put in the title. December 27 – The Day After Boxing Day but I don’t want to write it yet.
I think you will want to know what happened so I will put a little now here.
Mum has left us. I think that is why Dad was quiet but he has not said much. He said she packed a few things in a bag and left in the middle of the night. I wanted to go into their bedroom to see which things she took. She showed me her clothes so I know which ones are missing but Dad will not let me. I asked him when she left, what time, but he shaked shook his head.
I said before, to you, that I usually wake up and get a glass of water but I did not. I would have seen her leave, tried to stop her. I would have woken up if she left would not I?
I think it is going to be OK. Just with Dad and I. Mum did the cooking and shopping and cleaning but I can do that. I can do the cooking. I watched Mum. I can clean too. I know what to do.
Dad will do the shopping. Sometimes he goes to the pub for a drink. He is not a alko He does not drink much. He asked me if I wanted to go with him I do not like to go out.
I have to go. Dad wants me. He needs me. So I am leaving a gap.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
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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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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 my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-ninth, is of Young Adult novelist Maria Bradley.
Maria Bradley has worked at a variety of professions but has never released any of her writing for publication until November 2012. Her First book ‘Four’s a crowd’ was published by Feedaread in paperback and as an eBook on Amazon Kindle a couple of weeks later. She writes primarily for Teens and frequently states that her three young adult children are her inspiration. Although she is not primarily a poet, she has recently been placed as one of the runners up in a poetry competition with her poem ‘Manchester’; a cheerful rendition about her home town in England and it’s appallingly wet weather.
On 22 March 2013 she released her second Teen novel ‘Only Human’ in the spirit of the Twilight series and The Vampire Diaries. She is currently volunteering and writing the sequels to both novels full-time.
*
And now from the author herself:
I have always wanted to be a writer but have never really had the confidence to do it before now. Not that I’m in any way confident now, it’s just that I’ve realised that time is running out and my children are of an age where they can look after themselves to a certain degree.
I have worked as a Finance Clerk, Merchandiser, Sales Assistant, and Carer; more recently I’ve worked with special needs children and young adults. I love them all and continue to volunteer, but my real passion is for writing.
Writing a story opens up a world which is entirely controlled by the writer; it can be happy or sad, down-to-earth or mystical, heart-warming or terrifying. It is the most exciting and captivating use of time and is full of possibilities. A good story consumes the reader absolutely and leaves them bereft when they get to the end. I have read many stories like this and I hope that one day my stories will have the same effect. That is when I will feel that I have succeeded as an Author.
Now that I have finally ‘bitten the bullet’ and dived into the writing world, I can’t see myself doing anything else. I would say to any aspiring Author, and in fact, to everybody who is too shy or lacks the confidence to try and achieve their dreams, ‘Go for it! Don’t waste any time worrying if you are good enough or worry about what anyone else thinks, just do it now, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!’
Only Human
I have always been a fan of Vampire novels and thought it would be interesting to write about a vulnerable teenage girl living secretly in a vampire-dominated world. Being a teenage girl is difficult enough without the added danger of being discovered and ‘eaten’ at any given point within your nightly life. Aecia carries this burden alone until her desperate loneliness creates ‘Amica’ a blonde, blue eyed and carefree human friend whom she writes to in her diary. When she becomes involved with a real friend ‘Garok’ her life takes a disastrous turn for the worst but as her terrifying fears are realised she discovers that maybe she is not alone; with each catastrophic morsel of her life exploding into chaos she finds that her own birth has been the catalyst to events that will shake the foundations of the tyrannous vampire world forever.
Four’s A Crowd
My first project is called ‘Four’s A Crowd’ and began with someone I met many years ago when my own life was in a very dark place. ‘Chairman’ was an elderly gentleman who had absolutely nothing. He occasionally lived in a boarded up house and sometimes slept on an old mattress in the back of a rusty old van; not the kind of person you would expect to speak with a ‘Made in Chelsea’ accent, but he did. He was also extremely charming, polite and very content with his life. I will never forget his optimism and vigour. ‘Jack’ is a mixture of all the wonderful special needs children I have been fortunate enough to meet and work with. Nature has a way of affording particular and spectacular gifts to those who might be disadvantaged in another way. ‘Sky’ is my daughter, plain and simple; spirited, fiery, impulsive, stubborn, beautiful and kind.
These three unlikely friends meet by chance and are hurled into a murder mystery complicated by Chairman’s true identity, Jack’s unique and fascinating gift and Sky’s search for her lost mother. They must battle the narcissistic ‘Dr Rhinehart’ as he attempts to control their minds and confuse them with illusion. Throughout their rollercoaster adventure they slowly discover that the truth of all their pasts will become the thread that ties all of their futures together.
**
You can find more about Maria and her writing via…
***
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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, Maria Bradley, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Welcome to Post-weekend Poetry and the seventy-seventh poem in this series. This week’s piece is by septuagenarian Charles Francis.
Looned
The wildest sound I’ve ever heard
was cried
not before, not behind, but beside
me, yammered
The wildest song
it dipped
it rose, my soul it gripped
not forever, but however long
Demoniac laughter
primal, animal
old before language
was born
Nature’s mocking
creation of the demiurge,
the loon,
pied piper of the diabolical
I had to see him
that call make
I had to see him
clear and near
I followed then-
that howling, laughing calling,
faith tempting,
fiction of believing-
as best I could
along the shore
I followed
sweating
tripping
falling,
through fetid
biting bug
infested
swampy growth
I followed…
Only to see him dive
disappearing
hidden
mocking
hiding
closing
To see him dive
into depths unseen
to reappear and
call again
I followed
to trip on a fallen
absent log,
agent of decay
I followed a delusive,
pranking phantom
beyond my stumbling,
beyond my groping
I followed a creature
only fit
for parables
I followed a creature
who laughed at me,
that derided me
so I turned…
conversion
failed
*
I asked Charles what prompted this piece and he said…
For those who may not be familiar with the loon, it is a large, fresh water, aquatic bird, most noted for its wavering eerie cry. Loons are found in northern climes. The Common loon has a white circle around the neck. There are other less frequently seen varieties such as the Red-throated loon. My attempts to identify what I thought might be one of the latter resulted in the following poem. I glimpsed what I though was a Red-throated loon and set off to get a closer look. The title of the poem is, of course, a play on the word and practice “pranked”.
I loved it. Thank you, Charles.
American-Canadian Charles Francis is a retired Maine high school teacher living in Nova Scotia who writes about Maine local history and nostalgia. Now, at seventy, he’s begun writing poetry within setting of his North Mountain (Nova Scotia) cottage. The horned lark is a Nova Scotia rarity.
His blog is http://viewsfromyoungsmountain.blogspot.ca and he’s also on Scribd (http://www.scribd.com/Charles%20%20Francis).
***
If you’d like to submit your poem for consideration for Post-weekend Poetry take a look here or a poem for critique on the Online Poetry Writing Group (link below).
** 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Welcome to the twentieth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story from a young version of a current work-in-progress antagonist. The second novel I wrote (between NaNoWriMos 2008 and 2009), After Jessica, is about a woman called Jessica who dies in chapter 2 (not a spoiler, by the way) and her brother then has to tie up her estate and finds that her life wasn’t as simple as he thought. She isn’t the typical antagonist because she’s dead (and no, it’s not a ghost story) but I thought an interesting person to do. Below is my 253-worder.
*
Before Jessica
Jessica drew her tongue across her upper teeth. The drink was supposed to console her but the shop assistant had put in too much ice.
She took another sip and grimaced. Chocolate. She needed chocolate, the epitome of comfort food.
Epitome. Not a word most sixteen-year-olds knew the meaning of but the dictionary was one of her favourite books.
Simon, her older-by-two-years brother, would laugh at her, her head always buried in something; fiction, non-fiction, Jessica didn’t mind which. She especially loved the law so read crime novels, not the gory type where there’s blood oozing on every other page but clever crime, cosy; Agatha Christie and the likes.
Simon was more of a science-fiction, Doctor Who fan, although he’d not be seen dead with a book in his hands, the TV far more realistic in his opinion, video box sets his only request at Christmas and birthdays.
Jessica didn’t see the point of half-watching a programme, face peering from behind a cushion. She’d rather sit glued to every second, every frame, appreciating the work the cameramen had put in. It was an art. Everyone involved were artists.
She’d loved to do something in films, not act, she had a terrible memory, but something behind the scenes. In case it didn’t work out, she’d enrolled on a typing course, second week in.
She looked at her at chewed nails. Long nails were impractical on a typewriter, even electronic ones. A good excuse, she thought as she slurped the remnants of her orange juice.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
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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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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 my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-eighth, is of novelist and short story writer Jim Musgrave.
Jim Musgrave’s work has been recently featured in Best New Writing 2011, Hopewell Press, Titusville, New Jersey. He was a semi-finalist the Black Lawrence Press 2012 Chapbook Awards. He was also in a Bram Stoker Award Finalist volume of horror fiction, Beneath the Surface, 13 Shocking Tales of Terror, Shroud Publishing, San Francisco, California. His short story, “Zeru,” is published in Mixer. His science fiction was recently published in SciFi Short Story Magazine, Baton Rouge, LA. He has also published three novels and two collections of short stories at CIC Publishing. He is owner of English Majors Reviewers and Editors, LLC. Jim has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from San Diego State, and he teaches college English composition in San Diego where he lives with his wife Ellen.
*
And now from the author himself:
I began my historical fiction mystery with the idea that Edgar Allan Poe did not die in Baltimore in 1849 from alcohol consumption. This “death by alcohol” was an accepted “fact” as told by many historians who did not believe the only man* who was with the great author during his final days on this earth. Instead, I chose to believe Dr. Moran, and this naturally grew into my building the murder mystery that I called Forevermore.
The detective hero in my mystery had to be someone who knew Poe and who wanted to prove that Poe was not a drunkard. That’s how I chose Patrick James O’Malley. I surmised that if O’Malley had a love for literature and had worked for Poe when O’Malley was a young man, then he would obviously want to prove that the great author did not die an inebriate in Baltimore. O’Malley needed to prove Poe was murdered because the Civil War vet had just begun his “private investigation” profession in New York City. This “cold case” would also help O’Malley show the world that the Irish (both O’Malley and Poe are Irish) are not a bunch of “drunkards and sots.”
I also must confess that I use a time-honored “formula” for mysteries which includes a four-act development leading to the resolution and solving of the crime. This formula can be explained with the following: 1. The murder happens. 2. The sleuth’s investigation goes down the wrong path. 3. The sub-plot involves a problem in the detective’s personal life and must be solved immediately prior to the solution of the mystery. 4. The mystery has a symbolic meaning represented by the famous story by Poe, “The Black Cat.”
I hope you enjoy my mini-mystery, and if you do, then please leave a review on the Amazon web site. Also, feel free to comment on the blog here on my site.
**
You can find more about Jim and his writing via…
***
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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, Jim Musgrave, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast ‘short stories’ episode number 25 went live today and contained three flash fiction pieces that have appeared on my blog as Flash Fiction Fridays. Do email me should you like to submit your own.
This episode contained:
See the links above to read the stories… or hear my dulcet tones on the podcast.
The podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).
*
BIOS
JD Mader has been fortunate enough to encounter many giving and inspiring people in his life.
He hopes to repay the debt.
And to make enough money with his writing to buy a house.
His first novel Joe Café, second, The Biker, and collaboration ‘Bad Book’ (with Hise and Brooks) are available from Amazon.
JD’s website is http://www.jdmader.com where you can read his stories and much more, and if you’d like to you can email him there too.
**
Dorit Kedar travels around the world, looking for inspirational places to write her books. She was a special education art teacher in the morning and a Religious Studies student in the afternoon – completing her MA degree and researching societies and their beliefs in the 1st millennium in the ancient east, for her thesis. She then wrote her book “Lilith, the Jewish demoness – 1000 years of borderline personality disorder.”
This was followed by articles and lectures about ancient life, recruiting angels, demons and spirits and about amulets and incantation bowls. Dorit carried on studying Journalism and Museum studies. All this while raising two wonderful daughters and one dog…
Her website is http://www.lilith.co.uk and her books can be found on http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0072KO88Q and http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0072KO88Q.
**
Salvatore Buttaci is an obsessive-compulsive writer whose work has appeared widely. He was the 2007 recipient of the $500 Cyber-wit Poetry Award. His poems, stories, articles, and letters have appeared widely in publications that include New York Times,
U. S. A. Today, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, Cats Magazine, The National Enquirer, Christian Science Monitor, Poetic Bloomings, and A Word with You Press. He was an English instructor at a local community college and middle-school teacher in New Jersey before he retired in 2007 to commit himself to full-time writing.
Flashing My Shorts and 200 Shorts, published by All Things That Matter Press, are available in book and Kindle editions at http://www.kindlegraph.com/authors/sambpoet
His two chapbooks: Boy on a Swing… http://tinyurl.com/6qmkdy4
And What I Learned from the Spaniard… http://tinyurl.com/7apsk6s
His new book, If Roosters Don’t Crow, It Is Still Morning: Haiku and Other Poems (Cyber-Wit Publications) is available at http://tinyurl.com/7ssnzg4
A great seller since 1998, his book A Family of Sicilians is available at
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/ButtaciPublishing2008
He lives with his wife Sharon in West Virginia, USA.
***
Thank you for downloading / listening to this short story episode – I hope you enjoyed it. The next episode will be another short stories episode in a fortnight’s time.
All the details of these episodes are listed on this blog’s Podcast Short Stories page and my email address to submit your stories is morgen@morgenbailey.com.
The podcast is available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe).
** 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, Dorit Kedar, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, JD Mader, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, Salvatore Buttaci, 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
Welcome to the nineteen in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story with one of the following beginnings…
- Nate plummeted to the ground, screaming Kate’s name as he fell.
- Amanda Frobisher stood in front of the entire school, only to find no words would come out of her mouth.
- Jamie stood in the wreckage of his ransacked house, trying to take it all in.
- Max had one bullet left. He had to make it count.
- “So, will you marry me or not?”
Although Max and his bullet leapt out at me (because I write crime more than anything else), I went with Jamie today. I do plan to do the others anyway and will probably post them (if I don’t submit them to magazines) as 5pm Fiction stories. Below is my 432-worder.
*
Wreckage
Jamie stood in the wreckage of his ransacked house, trying to take it all in.
He didn’t even know where to start. Was there a start?
He had to call the police, he knew that, but on this side of the city it was a fairly regular occurrence so he also knew the chances of catching anyone, of them being stupid enough to leave any fingerprints, was slim but he had to for insurance purposes.
Insurance. “Shit!” Wasn’t it due around now?
He went to the kitchen, put on a pair of yellow Marigold washing up gloves then bolted up the stairs to the back bedroom.
He looked at the bookcase but it was empty, the files scattered over the floor. He searched through them, the fact they were all the same shade of blue adding to his frustration.
When he found the right one, he clasped it to his chest, went to the landing phone and dialled 999.
He then returned downstairs, filled the kettle and opened the folder. The reminder letter from Wickett & Pringle lay on the top. Jamie scanned the text then found the renewal date; 17th July. It was the 19th.
Jamie slumped in the chair and hung his head over the paperwork. He stuck out his tongue and blew a half-hearted raspberry.
He hadn’t expected a rapid response to his phone call but had only just made himself a cup of tea, surprisingly difficult to do while wearing washing up gloves, when he saw the flashing blue light outside.
He opened the front door as two officers approached it. He then spotted the ambulance.
“Are you the owner?” the taller of the two asked. Jamie read the officer’s name badge. Townshend.
Jamie nodded. “I only called the police. I didn’t ask for an ambulance.”
“Step inside, please, sir,” Townshend ordered.
Jamie took a step back.
“All the way, please,” his colleague, Rylett, added.
Jamie reached the lounge doorway, still facing the officers. “I don’t understand. What’s going on?”
“Where’s the woman?” Townshend asked, dropping the ‘sir’.
“What wo-?”
“Never mind. Rylett, you look upstairs. I’ll stay down here with Mr…”
“Dawson. Jamie Dawson. But…” He watched Rylett go upstairs then Townshend ushered Jamie into the lounge.
Townshend tilted his chin towards the mess that was surrounding them. “So, Mr Dawson. Domestic or were you looking for something?”
“No. Neither. I’ve been out, only just got in. I don’t know… what woman? Who-?”
But before he could continue, Rylett appeared. “She’s up there. We’re too late.”
“What?” Jamie asked as Townshend strapped handcuffs to his gloved hands.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Welcome to the six hundred and eighty-second of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with writer and publisher Tracy Kauffman of K G Books. 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, Tracy. Can you please briefly explain the structure of your publishing house… perhaps who’s involved along the process of an acceptance to the book / story being published.
Tracy: First of all I want to thank you for inviting me to be a part of your wonderful blog. KG Books is a traditional type book publisher located in North Alabama. It is a part of a partnership and both my partner, Vicky and I agree on whom we publish.
Morgen: You’re very welcome, Tracy. I’m delighted you could join me today. You’re also a writer – does this help with deciding which projects to take on?
Tracy: Yes, I started out as an author before deciding to start my own company. I had seen where certain companies published authors but charged a fee just to get the book to print. Our company charges no upfront fees. We only make a percentage if the book sells.
Morgen: They do and there are a lot of scams out there (which is where sites like http://pre-ed.com are invaluable). The $64,000 question: out of all the submissions you receive, what makes a book / story stand out for all the right reasons?
Tracy: First of all, the book has to make sense. You wouldn’t believe how many manuscripts have been sent to us that have not been edited. They are simply hard to read. Editing makes a huge impact on whether we accept the submission or not. Then, we look at length, genre, storyline, and if it is interesting to us.
Morgen: Submissions should be the best they can be. A book will be edited by the publishers but even so… Without naming names, what makes a book proposal / story stand out for all the wrong reasons?
Tracy: Our mission is to publish decent stories to the public. Therefore we will not consider any erotica type books at all. Excessive cursing is the second thing that makes us say NO. Cursing doesn’t make a book appealing.
Morgen: It would be out of character (literally) for a rough and tough antagonist to say, “oh darn”, but less is most definitely more. What genres do you accept? What would you suggest an author do with a cross-genre piece of writing?
Tracy: We accept all except erotica. Cross genres are actually easier to market because they reach a wider base of customers.
Morgen: I’m sure there’ll be so many authors reading this who will love to hear you say that. Is there a genre that you haven’t published and would like to?
Tracy: I hope to publish some Crime / Mystery books in the future.
Morgen: They are incredibly popular. Is there a genre that sells better than others or that you can’t get enough of?
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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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, KG Books, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Welcome to the eighteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
I’m away today (at Greenacre Literature Festival) so have had to write a piece in advance and have gone with a Saturday single-word prompt of ‘bubble’. Below is my 169-worder.
*
Bubble and squeak
It was the bubbles in the champagne that got Poppy tipsy after just one glass.
“Well, you’re getting no sympathy from me,” Mark said, slamming the car door making Poppy whine. “Seatbelt,” he ordered, a little too loudly.
He started the engine as Poppy grabbed the belt and brought it in front of her stomach. She was about to click it in place when Mark thrust his foot on the accelerator making the car lurch then cut out.
Poppy put a hand up to her mouth and closed her eyes. “Please, Mark,” she said as he restarted the car.
She opened her eyes again as they drove away from the hotel and headed for the motorway. Pulling at her purple and pink bridesmaid’s dress, she debated what to say to break the silence. “Please don’t be angry with me, Mark.”
“I’m not angry with you, Poppy,” he replied. “I’m angry with myself. I always knew it was you I should have been marrying. Your sister will never forgive us.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app!
See http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E88JN0
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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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, 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 my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-seventh, is of debut literary novelist Sharon Baillie.
Dr Sharon Baillie, MSci, PhD lives in the west coast of Scotland with her husband and two children.
Sharon has had short stories published in Morpheus Tales (a magazine of horror, science fiction and fantasy) and the Reader’s Digest website (notably lacking in horror, science fiction and fantasy).
Her debut novel, Magenta Opium, was released by New Libri Press electronically in November 2012 and physically in March 2013. If you search Sharon E Baillie online you’ll find a selection of her published chemical works, although that advice should only be followed if you really want to know about some nifty novel chemistry.
*
And now from the author herself:
As a wife, a mother of two and a full-time student, finding time to indulge in my writing was a challenge! My options were limited: give up sleep altogether or squeeze every moment I could out of any alone time I managed to scrounge. I love my bed passionately, so that ruled out option one. Fellow parents can testify to the 24 hour on-call nature of having kids in a house, so the only “alone time” I truly had was when I was commuting to university for my PhD. Clearly not the ideal way to write a novel, but as it was the only time I could manage it, I managed it! The earphones went in, the music turned up, and all other commuters were instantly forgotten as I lost myself in my writing.
For approximately 30 minutes at a time.
On my BlackBerry.
Yes, BlackBerry. I wrote my entire novel, Magenta Opium, on my mobile phone. It was the fastest half hour of the day and I am certain the regular passengers on the 0803 to Glasgow thought I was seriously addicted to texting. I prayed for delays, broken down trains and signalling problems so my tired wee fingers could type out a few extra paragraphs before the train arrived at its destination and I disembarked back into my real life.
Then all of a sudden it was finished. I had written a novel. And I hadn’t even told my husband. It never came up. At no point did he say, ‘what did you do on your train journey today?’, so at no point did I tell him. When he asked about my day I naturally assumed he meant the bit where I was in a lab doing chemistry things, not the bit where I was sitting on a train. Chemistry stuff = exciting. Sometimes there was fire. Seriously. Train stuff = boring, surely? More fool him, really.
We all know a writer writes, but it doesn’t have to be in an actual office / den / dedicated space or on a proper computer / word processor / notepad. It can be a stolen 30 minutes on a phone.
*
And a synopsis of ‘Magenta Opium’…
The Dempsey family takes dysfunctional seriously. The mother has been AWOL for 8 years, 4 months and 18 days, but who’s counting? The father gets up to something of a highly secret nature, details of which are a bit sketchy at present but possibly a bit kinky, which is detrimental to his hygiene but good for his overall happiness. The prodigal brother had been very naughty indeed. In fact, beyond naughty. Downright bad.
Meanwhile the daughter VERONICA is perhaps a genius. She’s definitely a scientist and arguably insane. Like many scientists, what Veronica likes best is routine. She lives for her schedule and shuns change. But when the police call unexpectedly at her house late one evening their arrival sets in motion a series of events that threaten to destroy her safe environment and sweep her away in a world of drugs, a dead body, kidnapping, piracy, extreme tattooing and legends. Not to mention the Devil himself. And all because of a secret ladder and what the police find in her loft …
In the process of being a genius Veronica discovers a way to make opium better than opium. Her wonder drug has the potential to change the world, literally and metaphorically. With corrupt government agencies and industrial saboteurs bent on stopping her, not forgetting that pesky dead body to deal with (she couldn’t just put it in the bin, could she?), will Veronica Dempsey succeed in bringing magenta opium to the masses?
**
Wow. Well done you, Sharon. If we want to do it, we do, don’t we.
You can find more about Sharon and her writing via…
***
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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, Jane Wenham Joneswriting, 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, 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
Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the eighty-seventh piece in this series. This week’s is a 589-worder by romantic suspense novelist Phyllis J Burton. This story will be podcasted in episode 30 (with two other stories) on Sunday 28th July.
Twisted Pearls
‘I want everyone up on stage now, please.’ Lady Priscilla Prendagast’s haughty aristocratic voice boomed out over the heads of the assembled cast. Nobody moved. They were too busy talking to listen. ‘I said everyone up on stage, please,’ she repeated, stamping her feet in temper. ‘We’ll never get through this rehearsal if you all insist on talking all the time.’
The stage lights were all on. Priscilla couldn’t see anything in the auditorium. Her hazel eyes flashed angrily and she put her hand up to her forehead to shield them from the unforgiving lights. She was tall, slim and her long blond-to-greyish straight hair swung around her head wildly as her anger increased. The cast gradually began to move and her imperious gaze alighted on one of the few people in the society who was not in awe of her.
Jack Smithers walked slowly up the steps and on to the stage.
‘Lady Prendagast?’ he said, eyeing her up and down.
‘Yes, my man?’ She looked at him with disdain.
‘In my ’umble opinion, you won’t get them to do anything if you shout at ’em. Ask them gentle like.’ He gave a little chuckle and ambled towards the ladder which was propped up against a bank of stage lights. His clothes had all seen better days. His jacket had elbow patches made from different materials and the lining hung down at the back. His shoes were in definite need of repair. He’d been ‘Sparks’ at the theatre for 40 years and had seen producers come and go. He considered “’er Ladyship” to be one of the worst.
Jack coughed and spluttered as he climbed the ladder. It seemed that every time he climbed up now, it became more and more difficult. His chest felt tight and he stood on the top rung for a while to get his breath back.
‘Smithers, I say, Smithers. Please hurry up and move this ladder, the cast are coming on the stage in a minute. We can’t possibly have you cluttering everything up.’
‘Don’t you get all high and mighty with me, missus,’ he wheezed, ‘coz I just won’t stand for it, do you ’ear? If I don’t do these ’ere lights, there won’t be no performance tonight.’
‘Do hurry up then.’
‘I’m going as fast as I can.’
‘Well it’s not fast enough. In fact I’m not at all satisfied with your work, Smithers. You are too old for this job. I’ll be speaking to the management about you.’
Lady Priscilla Prendagast was wearing a twin-set with pearls and a tweed skirt. Jack Smithers stared at her and felt an overwhelming urge to tighten the beautiful necklace around her neck until she squealed. He clenched his gnarled old hands. He wasn’t a violent man, but he’d had enough. If I don’t go now he told himself, I won’t be responsible for my actions.
He climbed slowly down the ladder, walked over to his toolbox, and closed it with the finality of a pistol shot. ‘That’s it, your ladyship. See ’ow you get on without me. Bye,’ he said giving her a wave.
Priscilla Prendagast looked as if she was about to explode. ‘But you can’t leave now…what will we do. I…I…?’ For the first time in her life, she was lost for words.
Jack Smithers doffed his cap, picked up his toolbox and ambled slowly out of the hall. He felt triumphant. For once in her sheltered and privileged life, someone had stood up to Lady Prendagast and had won!
© Phyllis Burton
*
Thank you Phyllis.
If you’d like to submit your 1,000-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here, or up to 5,000 words for critique on my Online Short Story Writing Group (links below).
** 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, pseudonyms, publisher, publishing, query letters, reading books, red pen, rejection letter, rejection letters, rejections, rhyming, rhyming poetry, romance, romance fantasy, romance writer, romantic suspense, 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
Welcome to the seventeenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story written to spec – use a contest’s guidelines to dictate your story’s genre, length and / or theme but we had a similar prompt last week I wouldn’t be able to post anything I wrote if I wanted to send it anywhere (because posting on here deems as published) so I went off-piste and wrote a second-person viewpoint piece (as I would on a 5pm Friday) from the prompt of ‘speed’. Below is my 154-worder.
*
Worth every penny
You look at the advert in your hand then at the car. The words ‘Trades’, ‘Description’ and ‘Act’ spring to mind.
“And the top speed is…?” you ask the old man who’s staring at his car lovingly.
“Had her over 130 a few times.” The old man steps closer. “When no one was looking of course.”
You look back at the paper, and the price. “Two thousand is a bit steep.”
“Worth every penny,” the man says, stepping back and tilting his chin. “Spent almost that much doing her up.”
You look at the car, its red rusting bodywork and wonder where the money could have gone.
The old man looks at you and nods. He shuffles towards the bonnet and lifts it up.
The sun hitting the engine almost blinds you and you pull down the sunglasses that had been perched on the top of your head. “Wow,” is all you can say.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, 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 my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-sixth, is of biography and non-fiction writer Nancy Bethiaume LaPierre.
Nancy Bethiaume LaPierre was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA to French Canadian parents. She grew up in Rhode Island in an unstable, alcoholic home. She married Mark LaPierre in 1974. Her first child was born 3 years later. Mark and Nancy were blessed with two more beautiful baby boys. She was determined to raise them in a loving, stable, Christian home, something she never experienced herself.
During the course of her life with Mark, she realized how God took care of her and her brothers and sisters while growing up, and how He is still watching over her. She survived the challenges of raising three children in a school bus for the sake of sending them to Christian schools. God has shown her how to forgive her parents and found herself taking care of her mom after she had suffered a stroke. She had the privilege of caring for her for seven years, up until her death in 2010. She is now enjoying life with her children and grandchildren, every chance she can get, seeing they live in all different parts of the world. She shared her story in her book, Journey to a Better Land, in hopes to bless others that might be going through or have gone through similar trials.
*
And now from the author herself:
My book, Journey to a Better Land, is a true story about bringing people hope. Showing them a better way of life if they are hurting in any way. I want to encourage the reader that they can forgive the ones that have hurt them, especially if the ones are their parents.
I had to find a way to forgive those that hurt me or I knew I would not be able to raise my own children without hurting them.
It wasn’t easy to come out of a dysfunctional, alcoholic home with lots of abuse in it. I could not have done it without God’s help.
I completed a 3 Volume CD audio book from my first book, making the pages come to life. Reading or listening to my book will hopefully help you find the way to forgive. God showed me just which way to go and how to forgive those that hurt me. We don’t always have to follow in our parents’ footsteps, making the same mistakes as they did. I pray that I am an encouragement and a blessing to all those who read or listen to my words. I narrated my Audio Book and put all my heart into it.
I am also finishing up a second book for the caregivers of this world in hopes to encourage them because I know first hand the challenges that entails, having to take care of my mom and countless others through my life. I used my own personal experiences. The book is called “Courage for the Soul of the Caregiver” and it will be out sometime this summer.
I decided to publish my own work because it was less expensive doing it that way. I am finding the hardest thing to do with my work is marketing. I found in order to sell anything, you have to come up with a good way to market or it will not go very far. I am still working on that.
It takes me at least 1 and 1/2 years to complete my books and get them ready to sell. It is not an easy thing but if you keep at it and don’t forget to pray for your help you will get through. God bless you all as you are finding your way to survive in this sometimes heartless world and know there is a better way.
**
You can find more about Nancy and her writing via… her website nblbooks.com, you can download her book at Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005ED9CSE, audible.com and iTunes. She does offer her Kindle free from time-to-time.
***
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.
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Tonight’s guest blog post has been sent to me because the author wishes to share it with this blog’s audience – for which I am very grateful – and to remain anonymous (you’ll see why, although I have read similar stories elsewhere) but no matter how much Banoffee Pie you try to bribe me with, I won’t tell.
The mid-list author’s version of the bleak truth
I’m not trying to discourage anyone from writing, because if someone wants to write a book, they won’t be stopped by these cynical rantings. This is more to alert aspiring authors about what to expect; and what not to expect.
You thought an editor’s signature on a contract was the real deal, your personal Shangri-La? This is what you’ve been working towards all these years, and now you’ve arrived? Think again. This isn’t where it ends – this is where all the hard work starts.
Publishers are the strangest creatures and publishing is a deeply screwy business. It’s difficult to imagine another business in which a manufacturer (a publisher) will buy raw material (your manuscript), polish it, edit it, check it, get it typeset, commission a cover and have it printed – and then not make much of an effort to encourage anyone to buy it.
Can you imagine a manufacturer of let’s say chairs, who does the business, produces some world-beating chairs, and then just stacks them at the back of a dusty furniture shop in the hope that a passing customer on the way to Ikea might notice them?
It’s not a perfect analogy, but close enough. That’s what publishers do. Well, not quite. But that’s what publishers do with the vast majority of brand-new authors and their mid-list, generally not well-known fiction writers, like me.
These days a new author doesn’t get much of a chance to prove him/herself. It’s perform or die. A few years ago a new author would be given the leeway of maybe half a dozen books to build a following, but now it can be one book and you’re out if it doesn’t sell immediately, or if marketing doesn’t like the colour of your eyes. Newish novelists are dropped without a shred of compunction to make way for the next influx of bright-eyed guinea pigs.
Behind the fluff, publishing is a hard business made even harder by the likes of supermarkets and Amazon muscling in on the book business and pulling its pigtails. Publishing is a business increasingly run by accountants and there is no room for those who don’t pay their way from the word go, and never forget that marketing is king. Even a senior editor will respond to a question or a suggestion with ‘I’ll check with marketing…’
It’s one of the things that a new author isn’t told and should be. The reality is that if you’re not a celeb of some kind, and if your advance (if you’re lucky enough to have one) is less than £5000, then don’t expect to be promoted too energetically, if at all.
It doesn’t help that editorial, publicity and marketing don’t tend to talk to each other too much. You may be the apple of your editor’s eye, but if the head of marketing (who almost certainly has better things to do than to actually read first novels by unknowns) doesn’t take a shine to your book, then don’t expect much.
Editors tend to be smart, savvy people. Publicity is different. 90% of people who are there to promote books are 26, on their second job after a degree in art history and are called Phoebe, Emma, Charlotte or Xanthe. You get the picture? These aren’t the hard-nosed, aggressive, imaginative types you might find in newspaper or magazine publishing, or even in the marketing department of the Aylesbury Fung Shui Journal.
Publishing is a screwed-up business, as I may have said before. Very little happens quickly. Decisions can take weeks and months. Even the answer to a simple yes/no question can cause endless soul-searching. On the other hand, just to keep the rest of us confused, publishers can occasionally move with lightning speed, such as when some celebrity dies and they can have an unauthorised biography on bookshop shelves within two weeks flat.
As for your brand new novel, the one that you spent a year or more of your life sweating over, Phoebe (or Emma, Charlotte or Xanthe) will send out a press release that may or may not contain typos, based on the blurb on the back of your book, which in turn may not bear a great resemblance to what’s between the covers. A copy of the book will accompany the press release in the hope that someone will flip through it and write a review. That’s if you’re lucky. Most likely it’ll go into a reviewer’s To Be Read pile and may well stay there until it it gets carted off to a local second-hand shop with a load of other unread books from publishers. Alternatively, you’ve a fairly good chance of finding the review copy, unread and unreviewed, for sale on eBay for a couple of quid.
That’s really about it. Phoebe (or Emma, Charlotte or Xanthe) are terribly nice young people and undoubtedly decorative, but they’re supposed to be plugging a hundred or so books a year and they don’t have the time or inclination to do much for each one.
My books don’t even qualify for the minimal effort that a mention on my publisher’s Facebook page would require. Post pic (of cover), a few words, and there’s a few hundred or even thousand interested readers reached. Does it happen? No.
Nobody will tell you this, but it’s all down to you. You may be basking in the warm glow of a contract, overjoyed that the results of al that sweat is actually going to be published in a real book, but unaware that your baby is pretty much going to be left by the publisher to sink or swim.
What can you do about it? The answer is; not a lot. You can hire a publicist, but it’s far from cheap and results are not guaranteed. In fact, a freelance publicist will easily eat up your advance, if you were fortunate enough to have one.
The standard route these days is to get yourself plastered over as much of the internet as possible. Blog and tweet to the point of nausea. Get onto Facebook and make as many friends as you can. The problem is, every other writer in your position is doing just this.
If you have an even vaguely famous friend of some kind, beg or blackmail them to write you a blurb. Persuade anyone and everyone to give you Amazon stars. Be shameless. Take every opportunity. If you get the chance to talk to three people and a small dog in a library or even the back room of a pub, do it. After all, one of them might have a cousin who works for Channel 4… And if that takes off, then you can expect Phoebe (or Emma, Charlotte or Xanthe) to swing into action. But not before.
In the meantime, hang on like grim death to the day job.
*
Very interesting… thank you.
Bio: The author is a mid-list writer with a modest backlist of novels, currently waiting to find out if marketing is going to allow the author’s editor to commission a few more.
***
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, 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, graphic novels, 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, 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
Welcome to the sixteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013
Today’s prompt was to write a story about Future (Im)Perfect — What if [hot button issue you care about] has [come to pass / been squelched]. 10 years from now, what does the world look like? Below is my 409-worder.
*
Progress
“Remember when this was fields?”
“I do. Not all that long ago.”
“Ten years, just over. A month or two after Sally and Ben got engaged. They were one of the first to buy here.”
“Oh, yes. Paid a fortune too, if I remember.”
“A small fortunate, yes, but they wanted eco-friendly and the King was pushing for that so of course everything cost more.”
“King Charles? Was he on the throne already by then?”
“Not long before. 12th June 2014. Ben’s 30th birthday. The Queen abdicated on Sally’s; 15th May. Guess it came as a bit of a shock so it took them a while to sort out the paperwork.”
“Sally and Ben?”
“No. The coronation. The government.”
“Oh, yes. Nice party. This drinks party, I mean, not the government…”
“Isn’t it? Not many faces I recognise though.”
“Me neither. Bit of a relief to see you, if I’m honest.”
“Likewise. They’ve started digging up old Jack Tyler’s land.”
“Have they? For houses?”
“1,000.”
“No!”
“Yeah. Can you imagine?”
“Not really. 1,000 on the bit of land behind the farm?”
“Oh no, the whole thing.”
“What? What’s going to happen to the house?”
“Flatten. I think they’ve done it already.”
“That lovely old-”
“Progress.”
“So where’s Jack gone?”
“You haven’t heard?”
“Heard what?”
“Heart attack.”
“No! When?”
“When he got the letter offering seventy million.”
“Seventy million? What happened to that?”
“The son got it.”
“Jack had a son?”
“Lives in the States. Married a girl over there and stayed. Didn’t want the farm, of course.”
“Who would when offered that much.”
“The son.”
“Never saw him visit.”
“Think they fell out.”
“Reconciled after this death, though, didn’t they. 1,000 homes. Wow. The council will grant anything these days.”
“It’s the government push… since the shuttles started bringing the… you know, the legal aliens.”
“Of course, but people are leaving too, though, aren’t they?”
“Not as many. We have more resources here.”
“True, but Mars is young and you’d think exciting.”
“Fine for single people, but most have families these days, especially given the couple’s bonuses shooting up since the housing crisis came to the fore, and most wives would be more traditional, you know, happier to stay put. They’ll wait for Mars to be established then they’ll go. If they go. Most can’t afford it.”
“Can if they have farms to sell.”
“Yeah. If only…”
“Well, better mingle.”
“Me too. Nice to see you again.”
“You too.”
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
** 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, 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 my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-fifth, is of family saga novelist Nicole Dunlap.
Nicole Dunlap is just a nosey woman who loves watching people. She can be vacationing in the Bahamas or walking the Las Vegas Strip, or shopping at the mall, she will eavesdrop on your conversation in the very long lines at Disneyland because she just has to create inspiring and compelling characters.
Nicole writes about mother and daughter relationships over the lifespan. As a counselor, she has worked with children and teens that have been neglected by their parents. She takes the meat of each child’s worldview and paints a poignant picture that sheds tears, laughter, love, and how these tense relationships transform.
“I am the ‘gumbo’ genre novelist, because books shouldn’t be lightly seasoned,” Dunlap says about her books. “In a sense, the stories compound upon each other. Miss Nobody is a drama dealing with the issues of neglect. While Miss Scandalous, the second installment will be seasoned with suspense and full of life. With each story of these character’s lives, you get to learn how they transform. The series involves an aromatic explosion with characters that the readers can root for, love, hate, cry and laugh with, but most of all: yearn to flip through the pages to the end of that character’s journey.”
In her debut novel, Miss Nobody (The Shaw Family Saga), the main characters–mother, Charlene, and daughter, Raven–deal with the issues of Charlene abandoning her child at birth. The story takes in different aspects that can occur afterward, such as Raven being bullied and how she endured gossip as she grew in a predominantly Christian town which couldn’t fathom how she’s appeared after her teen mother’s departure. Nicole has always been fascinated about children who’ve been handed the “Joker” card for life. How some of these teens overcome their cards and how others are overpowered by such harsh lives. Sometimes adolescent can’t disconnect themselves from their own parents’ misgivings to understand that there is someone right in front of them who cares, such as a guardian, teacher, or friend. Nicole also advocates for young women who have the worst boyfriends known to mankind. Raven deals with this issue in book 1. Though her boyfriend, Chris, isn’t as awful as the horror situations she’s counseled, Nicole finds that some of the teen girls just let life pass them by while being tied down to someone so wrong.
In the second installment, Raven has the issues of neglect, a harsh life of being looked down on and it is all a burden. She is the derivative of so many young women’s fears, desires, wants, and depressions. But worst of all, she’s driven by revenge, a need to compensate for being abandoned. Revenge is the worst notion that we as humans can succumb to. Not to mention the pain we inflict on others’, it leads to inner turmoil. All the while Raven is dealing with this unhealthy mindset, Charlene is attempting to make atonement. Since Charlene has not been a good mother from the beginning, she doesn’t know the signs of Raven’s tarnished mental instability. Sometimes when people want something so bad–like being forgiven as in Charlene’s case–they are unable to take in the full picture and that’s what Nicole wants readers to take away from this novel.
In the third installment, Miss Perfect, which will be released August 2013 the reader will learn how each story has lead up to a progression of Charlene and Raven’s relationship. For some people, forgiveness is next to impossible. It can be a lifelong process. Even when they make a mother-daughter relationship impact, Raven and Charlene have flaws like any other humans. Raven will always be a secretive person no matter how much Charlene can attempt to support her daughter. This will lead to the mystery of Miss Perfect, and again adding to the gumbo seasoning of this author’s abilities.
While Nicole has a hard time parting fiction from fact, because the Shaw family seem so real, she has also began a standalone book. An Amazon Serial, which is released in episodes, similar to watching sitcoms and soap operas. She has an undying love for dramatic evening shows like Revenge and Deception and has decided to try her luck on an action romance about a catty amnesiac with a lot of “uh-oh” moments.
Nicole’s words of wisdom? “Have faith. It makes all things possible. Without faith, I wouldn’t have been able to release The Shaw Family Saga into the world. The finally manuscript is like a baby. A mother doesn’t want anyone to say anything bad about their child. So as a writer, when we launch our stories we think it is the best, but it won’t be to everyone. I have faith when I’m marketing and trying to get my story to people who are interested because these stories need to be read.”
*
And now from the author herself:
I am the ‘gumbo’ genre novelist, because books shouldn’t be lightly seasoned. In a sense, the stories compound upon each other. Miss Nobody is a drama dealing with the issues of neglect. While Miss Scandalous, the second installment will be seasoned with suspense and full of life. With each story of these character’s lives, you get to learn how they transform. The series involves an aromatic explosion with characters that the readers can root for, love, hate, cry and laugh with, but most of all: yearn to flip through the pages to the end of that character’s journey.
In my debut novel, Miss Nobody (The Shaw Family Saga), the main characters–mother, Charlene, and daughter, Raven–deal with the issues of Charlene abandoning her child at birth. The story takes in different aspects that can occur afterward, such as Raven being bullied and how she endured gossip as she grew in a predominantly Christian town which couldn’t fathom how she’s appeared after her teen mother’s departure. I have always been fascinated about children who’ve been handed the “Joker” card for life. Some of these teens overcome their cards and others surrender to harsh lives. Sometimes adolescent can’t disconnect themselves from their own parents’ misgivings to understand that there is someone right in front of them who cares, such as a guardian, teacher, or friend. I, also, advocates for young women who have the worst boyfriends known to mankind. Raven deals with this issue in book 1. Though her boyfriend, Chris, isn’t as awful as the horror situations I’ve counseled, I find that some of the teen girls just let life pass them by while being tied down to someone so wrong. This is why I was compelled to write the Shaw Family Saga.
In the second installment, Raven allows her unresolved issues of neglect, her childhood bullying and unsettled feelings to burden her young adult life. She is the derivative of so many young women’s fears, desires, wants, and depressions. But worst of all, she’s driven by revenge, a need to compensate for being abandoned. Revenge is the worst notion that we as humans can succumb to. Not to mention the pain we inflict on others’, it leads to inner turmoil. All the while Raven is dealing with this unhealthy mindset, Charlene is attempting to make atonement. Since Charlene has not been a good mother from the beginning, she doesn’t know the sign of Raven’s tarnished mental instability. Sometimes when people want something so bad–like being forgiven as in Charlene’s case–they are unable to take in the full picture and that’s what I hope readers will take away from this novel.
In the third installment, Miss Perfect which will be released August 2013, it shows the impact of the first two books, leading toward a progression of Charlene and Raven’s relationship. For some people, forgiveness is next to impossible. For others, forgiveness can be a lifelong process. Even when they make a mother-daughter relationship impact, Raven and Charlene have flaws like any other humans. Raven will always be a secretive person no matter how much Charlene can attempt to support her daughter. This will lead to the mystery of Miss Perfect, and again adding to the gumbo seasoning of my eclectic genre abilities.
Since I have a hard time parting fiction from fact, because the Shaw family seems so real, I am currently working on a standalone book. An Amazon Serial, which is released in episodes, similar to watching sitcoms and soap operas–my second favorite pastime after reading and writing. I have an undying love for dramatic evening shows like Revenge and Deception and I have tried my look with an action romance about a catty amnesiac with a lot of “uh-oh” moments. Unfortunately I can’t cross my fingers about how well the story will go, as I will be typing it.
My words of wisdom? Have faith. Without faith in myself, I wouldn’t have been able to commence the Shaw Family Saga. Nor would the teens that I have meet and counseled be approachable enough to broaden their mindset. Faith makes all things possible.
**
You can find more about Nicole and her writing via…
***
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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, Kobo, LinkedIn, literature, memoirist, Morgan Bailey, morgen bailey, Morgen with an e, multi-genre, murder mysteries, murder mystery, mystery author, mystery series, mystery suspense, Nicole Dunlap, 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, 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
Welcome to the fifteenth in a 31-day series Story A Day May 2013.
Late April 2011 I discovered http://StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011.
I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. This is on hold this month as I write a story a day for SADM2013.
Today’s prompt was to write a story entitled ‘Beyond The Blue Horizon’. Eek. Below is my 770-word science fiction story. Yes, folks, I’ve written some science fiction.
It’s been a busy day because I also wrote a story for LinkedIn Aspiring Writers May Competition and two 55-worders, the second of which I submitted to Austin Briggs’ monthly competition. :)
*
Beyond The Blue Horizon
Tel stared out through the treble-layer glass at the blue horizon. It seemed to be growing a shade darker every day but he looked down at the printer, at the reports, and they didn’t show anything out of the ordinary; the heartbeat lines pulsating in rhythm with no hint of a deviation. If there was an attack due then the machine wasn’t sensing it.
There was only one other explanation that Tel knew, or rather had heard of. It had never happened in his lifetime.
It was going to rain.
He couldn’t say anything. They’d laugh at him.
No one knew what effect real water would have on man-made water. Would they just blend or would one substance react with the other? Kill the other?
Maybe this was the attack after all. They, the powers that be, had said it was to be an air attack. Could it be something as simple as rain?
“Rain?” an alarmed voice said behind him.
Tel swung round. “Stop doing that!”
“What?” Farbe looked innocent.
“Sneak up on me… read my mind.”
I only read the good bits, Farbe said not moving his mouth. “Now what’s this about rain? You know we haven’t had that since-”
“And we won’t,” Tel interrupted. “The reports are fine, everything’s fine.” He gave a nervous chuckle.
“Then why is the sky getting darker, bluer?”
Tel turned to look at it. “You’ve noticed it too?”
“No.” Farbe leaned in. “I was listening to you.”
Tel stepped backwards, standing, not by accident, on Farbe’s foot.
“Ow!”
Tel faced his colleague. “How long have you been standing there?”
“Since just after you were thinking about what you’d like to do to Evetha.” Farbe grinned.
“Before…? Before! How?”
“I’m a Mark IV, remember.” He tapped the side of his white metal-clad head. “Improved sensors.” He then shook his foot to clear the pain, which appeared to do the trick. “Right,” he said, as if taking authority. “What are we going to do about this rain?”
Tel shrugged.
“There’s a contingency plan somewhere isn’t there?”
Tel’s eyes lit up. He opened a drawer under one of the desks and pulled out a red file.
Farbe stepped forward to join him.
Turning to the index, Tel ran his finger down the alphabetical list then read out, “Railway incidents… Raised blood pressure… Raisins stuck in throat.” He looked over at Farbe. “Raisins? They’ve got raisins but nothing about rain? What are we supposed to do?”
“Maybe you’re wrong.”
“I don’t think so. I can feel it in my…”
“Water?” Farbe laughed.
“Bones. I’ve just got this horrible feeling…”
“Then you should tell someone.”
“They won’t believe me.”
“I believe you.”
“No, you don’t.”
Farbe put on his sincere expression. “I do.”
“Then you tell them.”
“Oh, I can’t do that. I’m only a Mark IV.”
“What were you saying about improved…?”
“Sensors. But we’re still young. No Mark IV I know of has got past Assistant, and I’m not even there yet.” He hesitated then thrust a finger in the air. “I know!”
“Yes?”
“Let’s ask a Mark V!”
“What? There are no Mark Vs.”
“Yes there are. There’s one. It was in the paper.” Farbe held up his right hand, palm facing Tel, and a screen within it burst into life.
Tel read the first few lines then looked back at Farbe.
“That’s no good. We don’t know where it is.”
Farbe sighed. “If you’d read a bit further you’d have got to the bit saying where it was going to be delivered.”
Tel looked out the window, to the right of the horizon, to the city complex and the thousands of home-pods. “Go on, where.”
“Here.”
Tel turned to Farbe. “Here? Really? When?”
Before Farbe could reply, an electronic swish sounded behind them and a door slid open. It was the same sound as they used on the first Star Trek TV series, Tel’s boss a big fan, had been insistent on it.
They stood there open-mouthed as a gold version of Farbe glided in. “Hello, I’m New.”
“We know,” Farbe said first.
“No, my name is New.”
“Oh,” Tel said. “And erm… what do you do?”
“Everything,” New replied, his voice changing tone with every word, like a gentle stream on a summer’s day.
“Everything?” Tel repeated.
“He does,” Farbe said, looking at Tel, then scrolling down the text on his palm screen. “He even tells the future.” Farbe turned back to face New. “We have a question for you.”
“I know,” New said.
“Of course,” Farbe laughed. “You can tell the future.”
“Rain,” Tel butted in.
New faced Tel and gulped.
***
Picture above courtesy of morguefile.com.
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I welcome items for critique for the online writing groups listed below:
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Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the two hundred and thirty-fourth, is of multi-genre writer A M Jenner.
A M Jenner is a grandmother, mother, daughter, granddaughter and sister with a very large extended family. She began reading and writing at a very young age.
Early publication credits include church newsletters, the ANWA newsletter Of Good Report, high school literary magazine Rabbit Tales, and Mesa Public Library magazine E.T.
A M lives in an interdependent relationship with her computer in Gilbert, Arizona. Her family also lives int eh same home, although they rarely see her. She owns a car named Babycakes, several quirky computers (one of which has recently discovered a taste for manuscripts), and around 5,000 books, only half of which have been catalogued. A self-professed hermit who loves interacting with friends online, she was last seen entering the library.
*
And now from the author herself:
Maybe it’s ADHD, but I like to write whatever stories come into my head and not worry about what genre they belong to. Of course, this makes it difficult when someone asks me what I write. I usually ask them what they like to read; with a shelf full of suspense, fantasy, romance, science fiction, and even some delicious non-fiction, I can usually find at least one of my books to satisfy nearly any reader.
My multi-genre approach to writing is part of the reason I’m self-published. It’s rather difficult to find an agent or a publisher who’s capable of handling so many categories, and I felt that if I split my time between several agents I would run out of time to write high-quality stories. In the end, I feel like it’s the story that counts, and not what shelf they stick it on at the bookstore.
If you like stories with characters who feel real enough to hang out with, then it really doesn’t matter if you’re trying to defeat the invaders of Kwennjurat or driving down the freeway in Phoenix trying to lose the car that’s following you, you’ll enjoy the ride.
Come immerse yourself in my stories, No matter what you read, I’m sure there’s something here you’d like.
**
A M’s books (listed below) are available in print and various ebook formats; handy links to purchase points for each format are collected at both her website, www.am-jenner.com, and her blog, http://amjenner.blogspot.com.
- Fantasy: The Kwennjurat Chronicles (Tanella’s Flight, The Siege of Kwennjurat); Fabric of the World
- Science Fiction: Assignment to Earth
- Suspense: Deadly Gamble, Inherit My Heart, A Heart Full of Diamonds
- Romance: The Moms’ Place, A Gigolo for Christmas
- Short Story Collection: Bits and Bites
- Non-Fiction: Clues to Food (a cook book)
***
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!
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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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Tonight’s guest blog post is brought to you by novelist, playwright, poet and interviewee Valerie Laws.
Writing Comedy? You Can’t Be Serious!
I say, I say, I say. My book’s got no category.
Your book’s got no category? How does it sell?
Exactly!
It’s not funny, trying to sell a comedy novel. Comedy has always been part of my writing, in my twelve commissioned plays, or my first ten published books – poetry, drama, crime fiction – even the best-selling language text books had jokes in them. The more tragic, moving, or desperate the story I’m telling, the more determined I am to include humour and joy. Life is a mix, in the midst of death, we are in laugh. My own painful disabling injuries I used as chuckle fodder for my hospital visitors, how else to keep the grapes and chocs flowing? Even my mother’s dementia had its funny side – the laughter we shared about how strangely we each thought the other saw the world is a cherished memory. More of that anon.
My first actual ‘comedy novel’ is LYDIA BENNET’S BLOG, ‘the real story of Pride and Prejudice’. Like the original Lydia in Austen’s P&P, her eponymous novel is as stroppy, awkward, rebellious and mouthy as any modern teenager, and as shamelessly self-serving and flirtatious. This applies both to the character in my novel, and to the book itself as I try to share my work with the world. LYDIA BENNET has friends in high places, and I’m not just talking about posh beanpole Arsey Darcy or nice but dim Mr Blingley. She has fans to die for, eminent authors I value and respect who gave her fab reviews – Catherine Czerkawska, Dennis Hamley, Paul Magrs; and Linda Gillard, who gave her the ultimate 5* accolade, ‘I laughed out loud. Several times – while HAVING CHEMO!!!’.
But of course to reach beyond these few but choice readers, Lydia B needs to be squeezed into the corset of Amazon categories, though delightful bits of her insist on escaping their confinement. Is the book a ‘parody’? Yes, kind of. But it’s a carefully researched literary in-joke, irreverent but loving, finding new reasons Austen never knew for the events and relationships that bug the Bennets, reasons which make crazy sense and are even moving. Why does Mr Collins fear Lady Catherine so much? Why so desperate for matrimony? What is Charlotte Lucas’ deal? Why does Lydia Bennet broker their marriage and why is it a match made in a kind of heaven? Why is their betrothal both moving and dignified, in the midst of Lydia’s normal lively teenage scorn and invective? It’s not a parody like other parodies. It’s possibly an Austen ‘inversion’, but they don’t have a category for that. Other humour categories don’t really fit. Much of the comedy is in action, much in the language, as Lydia utters a ‘cri de cur’ as yet again her brilliant foresight achieves ‘ouija vu’, or she sabotages yet another would-be suitor for Bing’s bling or Darcy’s dosh, or schemes to bag the gloriously wicked Wickham for her sexy self. It’s not a mash-up like ‘P&P&Zombies’. It’s like ‘Clueless’ in corsets, like ‘Adrian Mole’ in a bonnet. I’ve had a brilliant new cover designed by Alison Richards at designstudio@aahprintersolutions.com to get across the ‘timeslip’, ‘steampunk’ feel – these and other terms are accurate but not comprehensive. I’ve tried looking up books or films in a similar ball-park: ‘Adrian Mole’, ‘Lost in Austen’, ‘Jasper Fforde’s Eyre Affair’: but they are either listed as ‘fiction’ or anything but comedy. Perhaps ‘comedy’ isn’t funny or sexy, although Lydia Bennet’s certainly both.
In fact she’s just the person who’d be flirting at a funeral… which brings me to some serious humour. Dementia, the science of dying, human specimens, dissection + dating Zulu marathon runners, funeral flirtations, sex technology = ALL THAT LIVES, my ‘CSI:Poetry of sex, death and pathology’ which is newly on Kindle as well as in paperback. Well, if ever there was a book to defy categorisation this is it. Why can’t Amazon have a ‘science poetry about pathology, mixed with funny erotic poetry about mid-life sex’ category? As it is, not being about ‘myths and legends’ or ‘spirituality’, I’m stuck with bald ‘poetry’. I lived this book, I did the research into dating and dying. Spending time with cold lifeless bodies, frozen brains… well we’ve all been on dates like that! Seriously though folks, my life for several years did consist of watching my parents die within a year, studying the science of how we die, and beginning to date again after a long marriage ended often to erotic, often to hilarious, effect. Sex and death, that’s life. Finding out about them and writing about them, that’s how I cope. Here’s an example of something my mother and I laughed about together – her insistence that my father was actually two men. The first poem in the book, introducing both strands.
MY MOTHER’S TWIN LOVERS
‘I must get back to the men,’ my mother announces,
Then slyly meets my eye, as I choose this time
To avoid my usual reply. ‘I know what you’re thinking!’
She’s triumphant. ‘That there’s only one of them! But
You’re wrong, you know!’ My mother is having an affair.
She’s cheating on my father with another man, who lives
With them, looks like his twin, and even shares his name.
‘I think they must be cousins,’ she explains defiantly.
Before going to bed with my father she slips next door,
Turns back the spare bed quilt, and leaves her slippers there,
So the other man won’t suspect. She has doubled her marriage,
Two-timed adultery. After blameless years of barely moderation,
Let alone excess in anything, she now has a surplus of husbands.
It’s as if in creating my father’s double she’s conjured up her own
Wicked twin, denied a life ‘til now when time is running short.
She has gained an extra husband while the one I had is gone,
Which is fine, but now my elderly mother, with dementia,
Has a more exciting sex life than I do, kicking up her heels
While mine have been dragging. Perhaps it’s time, I think,
As I take her home to her lovers, for me to get back to the men.
*
Innovative forms I’ve invented too are in the book, see them animated here on youtube, in my AV poetry installation text SLICING THE BRAIN, exhibited in London, Newcastle, Swansea and Berlin so far. Rubbing shoulders with work by Renoir, Degas, Henry Moore, it makes people cry – when I perform from the book, people need to laugh too, and they do, though mixing the two strands is risky. Bring it on, as Lydia Bennet would say!
Knock, knock. Who’s there? Arthur. Arthur who? Author who defies categories.
Badoom – tish! Thank you, I’m here all week.
**
Thank you, Valerie, that was great! I met Paul Magrs at booQfest last September (I’ve been asked back so may see him again ).
Valerie Laws is a novelist (crime and humour), poet, playwright, performer, mathematician and specialist in science poetry / art installations and commissions. She is the author of eleven books, the latest being her first YA comedy cross-over e-book, ‘Lydia Bennet’s Blog – the real story of Pride and Prejudice’, available on Amazon Kindle store and on her blog www.therealstoryofprideandprejudice.blogspot.com.
She is Writer in Residence at a London Pathology Museum and has won many awards and prizes, including a Wellcome Trust Arts Award. In her Arts Council-funded ‘Quantum Sheep’ she infamously spray-painted a new form of poetry onto live sheep using the principles of Quantum physics. She featured in BBC2′s ‘Why Poetry Matters’ with Griff Rhys Jones, with her next random haiku on inflatable beach balls in a swimming pool, and performs worldwide live and in the media. She lives on the North East Coast of England, is disabled but works largely in the mainstream, and is a fanatical swimmer.
You can find out more about Valerie and her writing via:
***
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, 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, graphic novels, 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, Jane Wenham Jones, 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, 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, Valerie Laws, 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
Canadian Gila Green’s debut novel KING OF THE CLASS was released April 2013 in Vancouver (Now or Never Publishing www.nonpublishing.com). She has published tens of short stories in literary journals in Canada, U.S.A., Australia, Hong Kong and Israel including Fiction Magazine, Many Mountains Moving, Nothing But Red Anthology, Jewish Fiction, The Dalhousie Review, The Saranac Review and Tel Aviv Stories.
Betrayal is a theme that threads through my entire debut novel, King of the Class.
