The Salton Sea Chronicles

Social Networking and Your Writer's Platform

2011-09-20T05:12:00.000-07:00

The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to welcome Andy Christofferson to the blog with a timely piece on using social media to build an author's platform so necessary to emerging authors.

by Andy Christofferson

A lot of writers these days look for ways to maximize their online exposure. They have a blog. They are on Twitter and they have an author page on Facebook. These are all great ways for a writer to promote their work, but that does not mean that they should all be used in the same way.

For starters, a Facebook author page should complement a writer’s blog or website, not take the place of it. A writer’s blog or website should be the foundation of their online presence, and things like the Facebook author page and Twitter should be used primarily as promotional tools.

That said, Twitter and the Facebook author pages should not necessarily be used in exactly the same way. With Twitter, your tweets appear to your followers and then are lost to the ether, but on the Facebook author page your posts are more permanent. People other than your followers can see them more easily.

Personally, I do not have a lot of the same friends on Facebook and Twitter, so by tweeting a link, then posting it on my Facebook author page, I can reach a wider variety of people. While the method of distribution is similar, with Twitter followers retweeting and Facebook friends sharing, I think with the Facebook author page it is more important to post things with specific content and in a specific way that encourages people to comment. If you can get people to have discussions on your Facebook author page it encourages them to keep coming back to it.

Some people seem to think that the goal is to get as many ‘likes’ as possible, with the idea that this will somehow translate directly to book sales, so they get all their friends and fellow indie writers to like their page, and that’s about the extent of their efforts. In the long run, I do not think this is very helpful, because if you do not have quality content on your page, and if you do not add content at appropriate intervals, people will hide your author page from their Facebook news feed and forget about it.

Like your novels themselves, content is key. Links to your works, your blog posts, reviews, and interviews are all excellent and indeed necessary, but it’s important to share them in a way that prompts people to discuss them and pass them on to their friends. It is also important to not post things too frequently. If you’re clogging up people’s news feeds with a constant stream of links and ads, they’re just going to hide your posts, which again defeats the purpose. Specifically, DO NOT link your Twitter account to your Facebook author page. That will virtually guarantee that people will hide your posts.

In closing, I believe both Twitter and the Facebook author page are useful tools for getting the word out about your literary endeavors, but only if they’re used properly.

The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines...A Review

2011-09-05T07:16:00.000-07:00

After reading The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes by Tami D. Cowen, Caro LaFever, and Sue Viders, I was presented with a dilemma because so many laud this book and I cannot. It is a good resource when taken with a few grains of salt, but hardly "complete" as promised by the title. Scratch the surface and the flaws become readily apparent.

If you are writing male/female romance and want to stick with rigid stereotypes, this is your book.

For anyone wishing to move beyond stereotypes, the book is too tidy for its own good. There are exactly eight male archetypes and exactly eight female archetypes. A bit too convenient. Moreover, the authors give the same archetype different names for males and females. For example "the chief" (male) and "the boss" (female) are the same archetype based on the authors' descriptions, but in their minds are two separate archetypes.

Logic faults like this unfortunately abound all through the book.

The male archetypes are:
the chief
the bad boy
the best friend
the charmer
the lost soul
the professor
the swashbuckler
the warrior

The female archetypes are:
the boss (would a chief not be a boss?)
the seductress
the spunky kid (guys apparently are not spunky)
the free spirit (ditto above)
the waif (???)
the librarian
the crusader
the nurturer

As mentioned before, some of the corresponding archetypes are really one not two. Moreover, the naming of some is jejune at best.

The book was written as a look at heroes and heroines, rather than character types which would have been more useful. The tome also is skewed toward the perspective that all interactions are male/female, further blunting its usefulness.

Would I encourage people to read The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes & Heroines: Sixteen Master Archetypes? Yes. Would I say it is complete? Not by a country mile!

#Sample Sunday The Salton Sea Chronicles: Avenger

2011-09-04T07:15:00.000-07:00

As the hurricane intensifies, I light every candle the church owns. Fearing evil as much as God, I believe a blood war will flare this evening with my church the nexus. My guardian angel, Daniel, is nowhere to be found. Daniel revealed himself to me as an angel that day in 1957 when my brother Jake drowned out here and the angel has been around me ever since.

“What’s that odor?”

It melds the sweetness of Ben-Gay and stench of burnt wires. My pores draw it in tainting my skin. I stand and walk to the altar where a censer holds hot coals. Spooning incense granules onto the embers causes a gray-white plume to rise. I inhale the smoke letting it surround and caress my face. Blessing the sanctuary and asking for intercession from God comes by rote.

“Is it too late to believe in God?”

“May the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, in whose power and authority we have confidence…” I recite.

“Hocus, pocus, dominocus!”

“Through the prayers and merits of the Blessed Mary ever-virgin, of Saint Michael the Archangel…”

My namesake embodies power and righteousness, but by comparison I may as well be castrati. I talk like I have big balls, but I do not think any man’s balls are big enough when good and evil go to war.

#SixSentenceSunday #SampleSunday

2011-09-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

Cinéma vérité, or "truthful" cinema, is a style of film making known for taking a provocative stance toward its topics. Matthew Darringer's writings definitely accomplish that goal. Below is an excerpt of his writing.

I will buy her breakfast at the Village Grill. It is much nicer than Zingo’s but food takes forever to come. That will give her the time she needs to talk.

She held nothing back last night, but that is what they do when they are looking to move on to the next man.

She has a boyfriend she says she is "sorta broken up with but kinda not", but I cannot tell her what I know about him.

I could not sleep after we finished.

I do not want to be the next man.

MatthewDarringerWrites

Hey, Skinny Latte Authors, Where Will Future Writers Come From?

2011-09-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

If we were to survey the skinny-latte authors who style themselves as creative types and experts on writing spewing forth their brilliance and ask them where future writers will come from, they would no doubt wave one of their artful hands and say we should have lots of creative writing in schools.

Vapid people always foist whatever they want onto schools.

I say as a career English teacher: Keep your hands off the classroom. The last thing we need is more people forcing their non-expert advice on teachers who are in fact the experts.

Every time the public's butt crack itches, they "should" all over schools. They say: "Schools should..."

Ironically, one of the most damaging forces impeding writing excellence is the National Writing Project. In the jai guru deva om, smoke induced stupor of the 1970s the Bay Area Writing Project, at UC Berkeley, promoted the notion that the process of writing was more important than the product. The feel-good moment spread to other California universities spawning the California Writing Project, then across the nation to become the National Writing Project.

While the message of there being a process that leads to a product is big fat DUHH even to trained monkeys, the National Writing Project's insistence that teachers bog down in the process (incessant brainstorming, protracted sharing out, drafting and drafting and drafting, etc.) produced a generation of writers who felt really good about the garbage they were writing. Thankfully, teachers have pretty much stopped listening to the NWP.

The result of this drunken interlude with the NWP is that we have some eAuthors who were students in classrooms during that movement who are completely comfortable with the creativity of their writing even if their attention to grammar is atrocious. Politely, I have had to tell some eAuthors I would not be reviewing their books because I would have to be honest about the quality of the writing.

Writing is not as simple as sit down, shut up, and write, the product DOES matter. A person can NaNoWriMo or write X number of words per day or month until Hell freezes over, but THAT is not good writing. Being able to spew fifty thousand words in a month is hardly remarkable.

Quality matters. There ARE standards.

When I teach writing, I do in fact use process, but state standards demand the product measure up. People who espouse writing errors as style (e.g. coordinating conjunctions starting sentences, contractions in narration, and so on) will never seek to do it correctly because that would require effort. It is much easier to call one's cult of low standards a virtue and call anyone who points it out, judgmental.

Judging is NOT a bad thing. The people who seek to be "non-judgmental" really want a culture of lowest common denominator, rock bottom expectations, and not to have to confront their own laziness.

Of course, they are the first to demand schools deliver excellence. Hypocrites!

The second damaging movement in American schools was the idiocy of the Jane Schaffer Method.

More than a decade ago, schools faced the imperative of having to raise literacy scores. They grabbed onto and spent a fortune on the products of a charlatan named Jane Schaffer who focused her snake-oil writing program 100% on the product and hailed deadly formulaic writing as the pinnacle of excellence. Schools bought in because the teachers--who grew up under the regime of the National Writing Project's pissing on the curriculum--had no idea how to teach correct writing! The problem with Jane Schaffer's so-called method is that her formulaic garbage produced a legion of writers needing remediation when they went to college.

I have to wonder if the sheer number of writers who think they have to include a prologue when they write a novel is as a result of thinking a formulaic approach to writing connotes excellence.

Ms. Schaffer passed away, so she will never have to shoulder the shame for what she did to a generation of writers.

These days teachers are asserting their voices as the classroom experts. They are quite conversant in the standards, have researched and implemented instructional techniques to drive acquisition, and participate in Professional Learning Communities where hard data about student acquisition results in teaching direction. This approach where excellence is expected, and students driven toward it, will ultimately produce better writers so long as the skinny-latte authors can stop pretending they are writing experts.

With schools seeking an 800 or higher Academic Performance Index, the answer to the question I posed is the classroom.

A Few Words About Editing With Minnie Lahongrais

2011-08-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to feature this article on editing from friend Minnie Lahongrais. Thank you so much for writing for us. While many authors say not to edit while composing, many do. This piece shows the value.

I took the day off today because I had this idea germinating in my head for my next story Standing on the Precipice due to be published with Indie Authors Press next year. It was while working on that project, that I got my inspiration for this post.

I have written what I thought would be my first chapter and was getting ready to start my second. The most important thing I realized while writing my first story, Sinner’s Ride, was that my writing flows easier when I write a chapter--and before going on to the next one--I edit, revise it, and sometimes even re-write the whole thing. Sometimes it goes well and stays on the same track, but often my editing/revising takes the story on another level completely, even morphing the story into something I had not originally intended.

For example, I wrote this paragraph on my first day of writing Sinner’s Ride:

I sit by my window in my bedroom and nervously watch as the raindrops fall on this dreary morning. I reach for what’s left of last night’s blunt because that’s all I can do. I haven’t slept in days and I haven’t heard a single word. I sit and stare out the window as I wonder what’s going on. It’s now Saturday morning and I still don’t know what’s happening. What has happened? Should I be calling a lawyer right now? Should I stay and wait? Should I be packing? If I leave, I will look guilty. If I stay, I will put myself and my loved ones in danger. What am I going to do? Where has my life gone? My nerves are shot and I feel like I’m on a never ending roller coaster ride.

As I read and re-read this paragraph, I hated it more and more. It is all over the place and although it gives the reader a hint that something has happened, maybe something criminal, it really is not enough to make me want to continue reading. This story was originally supposed to be about a diamond heist gone bad, but you cannot tell that it is about anything remotely as serious as that from reading the above. Yes, the character is worried about something, and it is implied that there is or was something criminal going on, but what criminal is not worried about getting caught?

I edited it to read like this:

I haven’t slept in days. All I can do is sit by my window in my tiny, sparsely furnished room, look out as the raindrops fall in long dripping lines against the windowpane and chain-smoke cigarettes. I am completely in the dark about my baby’s welfare and I am really worried. Where has my life gone? How could this have happened? What should I do? I have to get out of here, but how? I have to find a way to get out of here. When will I be able to get off this horrible roller-coaster ride?

I liked that paragraph much better. With this paragraph, I got a sense of desperation and the story took on a whole new turn. Now there was a child involved! My curiosity, as a reader would be stirred with a paragraph like this. As the writer of this paragraph, my imagination opened up. In the end, there was talk of a diamond heist, but the story ended up being much more than that.

If I were to read this paragraph while browsing through this book in a bookstore, I would want to buy it and read it! Wouldn’t you? This paragraph says so much more with less wording.

Editing is such an important step in the publishing process. Who wants to stumble through a story that is littered with bad punctuation, errant misspellings and even worse than that, a disjointed storyline? When I pick up a book to read, I usually want to escape into another world. I want to envision what I am reading but more than that, I want to be right there with the characters. The point of editing is to enable a story to play out smoothly, all the while keeping the reader engaged. How can the reader be engaged if all he/she is doing is editing the text of the story as they go along?

To sum it up people, GET in touch with a GOOD EDITOR. The owner of this blog is one. ☺

A Few Moments With Author Ellis Carrington

2011-08-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

As Twitter revolutionizes communication in brief spurts, I have come to follow and be followed by tens of dozens of working authors of wildly different genres. Some are independent, self published authors, e-authors, and traditionally contracted authors, but they all fascinate me and I thank them for their kindness in "sitting" for an interview. The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to share this interview of Ellis Carrington.

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

Well, I’ve always had a hard time with my bio, but what I usually tell people is: Ellis Carrington is a woman who loves men who love men, and has been ever since her rebellious teen years when she jacked a copy of The New Joy of Gay Sex from her local public library and said to herself, "Now THAT is hawt!" She’s a wild child who hates to color in the lines, but who lives and loves passionately. Ellis can be found in and around the Washington D.C. area, swilling Starbucks with her real or imaginary buddies. Her greatest loves are good friends, good music, and of course reading M/M romance.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

Amor Prohibido, about a broken man who goes on vacation to Mexico and falls in love with his Mayan spirit guide, will be released by Amber Quill on September 4th! I’ve also released a football-themed M/M/M contemporary called After Party in the Ravenous Romance Anthology Touchdowns. Coming up, I have another contemporary short with Dreamspinner Press called Feeling Neighborly due out in January, and a vampire novella called Forever Valentine that is scheduled to release on 2/12, just in time for Valentine’s Day!

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

At the moment it’s Amor Prohibido that I’m most proud of! It was a difficult story to write, about a man finding his strength and moving on after a same-sex abusive relationship. It’s one of those subjects that still holds some stigma I think, and I drew on some of my own abuse history to try to lend realism to the story. Also, there’s a lot of mythology about the Mayan underworld and a lot of research went into that.

4. You write gay romance. What attracted you to the genre?

Aside from the fact that men are hot, and men together are even hotter? I think there is a lot of freedom in the genre that doesn’t exist in mainstream romance, and it has attracted some incredibly talented writers. I actually was not much of a romance reader in general, and one day I stumbled across Marie Sexton’s Promises—immediately, I was hooked.

5. One of my eye-opening moments about gay romance is how many straight women write it. Do you have an opinion--not on whether people should write gay romance if they so choose--, but on the authenticity of authors not being gay and trying to capture gayness and gay romance authentically?

I think that everyone experiences sex and relationship dynamics differently, and absolutely as a women there are certain things I will only ever know in theory no matter how much research I do (or how much porn I watch!). Without argument, there is a nuance to M/M romances written by actual gay men. I’ve been lucky to find a critique buddy who is not just a phenomenal editor but also an actual card-carrying gay man, and I try never to let anything go out the door without him vetting it first. So my intention, always, is to be as authentic as I am able. That said, I think it has to remain in peoples’ minds that we’re reading fiction and everyone’s mileage varies. Even if I were to write about sex between a man and a woman (or between two women) my experiences might not be the same as another woman’s. I write a lot of paranormal romances, too—vampires, shifters, and Mayan spirit guides. I’ve never been one of those, either. I do my best to make the experience seem real to the reader.

6. Have you had to deal with any bias from other writers wanting to pigeonhole you as a romance writer? If so, how did/do you cope/respond?

I’m happy to say I haven’t really experienced that!

7.If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

Hmm. I would say that mostly I just type, but come to think of it I usually listen to music with my headphones, so there’s also some foot tapping and head-bopping going on. I don’t think I ever really was aware that I did it until one day at Starbucks the guy sitting next to me shot a dirty look and then got up to move. I guess I was tapping and bopping a little too enthusiastically! The editing phase is where it gets interesting. I stare off into space a lot, and sometimes I get caught staring at other people accidentally.

8. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

I walk backwards! It sounds nutty, but it totally works. I read somewhere that if you do it while you’re thinking about a problem, it changes the way your brain processes it. Barring that I take a break and move to something unrelated for a bit. I do sometimes just force myself to work through it, though. Every morning (unless I’m ill or my kids are) I’m up before the sunrise and I force myself to get a certain number of words down whether I feel like I’ve got anything brilliant coming out or I feel like it’s all crap, because you cannot edit a blank page. Sometimes you just need to get yourself over the hump.

9. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

I’m afraid I don’t have a good answer for that. I’ve got small kids and my primary day job is caring for them, so I am far less prolific than many writers are able to be and I’m often at their mercy.

10. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors wanting to join the ranks of writing gay romance?

The best advice I was ever given was to join the Romance Writers of America. They have many local subchapters, and even a Rainbow Writers subchapter for those of us who write LGBT. Those subchapters all offer a variety of workshops on all things writing-related. You don’t have to belong to the subchapter to take them, either. I have gained so much in terms of honing my writing and also gained valuable relationships with other writers by taking these workshops! Writing can be a solitary activity and friendships with other writers are critical to one’s sanity, I think. In lieu of the RWA, savvyauthors.com is also a great online writers’ community and is a bit cheaper to belong to. They also offer lots of great and inexpensive workshops on craft, promo, etc.

Promo for Amor Prohibido on sale September 4th:

Jacob Freehan has no job, no man, and no motivation. In pain both from ending a long-term abusive relationship and a severe back injury, he escapes to the sunny seaside town of Puerto Morelos for a little yoga, a little R&R, and possibly a place to quietly end his own life.

Pakal is a centuries-old immortal Mayan spirit guide who has been charged with getting Jacob on the path toward healing. Romantic involvement with a spirit charge is strictly forbidden, and it has never been a problem...until now. Pakal sees something special in Jacob, but failure to keep a rapidly-growing attraction at bay could result in Jacob losing his life and Pakal being condemned to Xibalba—the Underworld—forever.

Contact Ellis Carrington:

EllisCarrington.com

Buy Amor Prohibido here

Twitter: @EroticaByEllis

Facebook

#SampleSunday

2011-08-28T07:42:00.000-07:00

The following is an excerpt from The Salton Sea Chronicles: Sleepwalker. In this piece, the protagonist, an Air Force pilot named Daniel Shelton, is about to attempt a world record for a prop-driven plane at the controls of his XF-84-H Thunderscreech. At this point he is minutes away from death. This portion has been mildly edited given this is an all-ages blog.

Protocol demands I make one trial pass at three-quarters throttle with Hank chasing me in the F-84-F, while KK in the Thunderflash will take the pretty pictures the Air Force will say was of the record setting moment. Then, if everything seems ok, we will return to base, check specs, and restage, ready to tackle a full-throttle run for the history books.

After long minutes spent waiting, the radio cracks to life and the signal comes for us to stage ourselves for take off. I taxi down the tarmac toward the runway, the plane seething, wanting to convert air and fuel into venom. I am supposed to wait for take off clearance and to stay with Hank and KK once we take to the air. Fat chance.

“Don’t worry, baby. Daniel will push to your limits.”

At the end of the taxi lane, I make an arrogantly fast one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn onto the runway and without waiting for take off orders pull hard on the throttle catapulting the airplane down the runway heading south. Instantly, all hell breaks loose on the radio as the base scrambles to ensure the safety of air traffic. Unknown to me, a DC-3 heads to the base and prepares to descend for landing. Additionally, private pilots play touch and go at the Salton Sea Airport.

“Dammit, Shelton,” the radio squawks. “What the hell are you doing? Abort! A DC-3 is headed your way.”

Screw them!

Already Thunderscreech fights me for control wanting to sway right and left before the wheels leave the tarmac. I pull the nose up to let it have what it wants and soon we leave the mortal Earth behind us clawing air with its propeller scratching its way to Heaven.

Novel Trailers And You

2011-08-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

The Salton Sea Chronicles blogspot is back after a one-week hiatus, but with a successful launch of a new academic year, it is time to get back to blogging.

Today we look at novel trailers.

Just as legacy publishers staunchly believed self-publishing, ePublishing, and indie publishing represented fads, they used to look with jaundiced eyes at the idea of a novel trailer. Initially, the biggies saw doing so as deluded authors, not good enough for “real” publishing houses, buying real estate in cloud cuckoo land in a vain attempt to promote their not-good-enough work. They did not realize the industry shifted while they were resting on laurels.

Much to their chagrin, the novel trailer found its feet and, these days, NOT having one is a gasp-causing moment. What is a writer to do?

Fortunately iMovie makes creating a trailer frighteningly simple, but creating video—in general—has become child’s play, so call out the children and let make a trailer.

Two basic types of trailers exist: sales trailers and focus trailers.

Sales trailers have as their purpose to tease us and to create anticipation for a novel. We are talking commercials here. Printed books are going the way of the dodo and them book jackets too. The blurb on the cover we used to read to see if we wanted to drop cash on the book has been replaced with a video commercial. With that shift has come an entirely new “ethic” for what we present.

Take a look at Carolyn Arnold’s trailer for her novel Eleven:

Eleven by Carolyn Arnold

Hers is a commercial pure and simple to drum up interest in the novel and the result is a textbook example of how to do a trailer right. She gives us a feel for the plot, but leaves us wondering what happens next. Buy the book! The imagery gives us a feel for the tone of the novel. Buy the book! It ends with purchase/contact information. Buy the book!

Nicely done! THAT is what a sales trailer should do. Note also that the trailer is short. People have to make choices and making them sit through too much video is not the wisest idea. Make it happen and make it happen quickly.

The second type of trailer, the focus trailer, by contrast is longer and not intended for sales, but rather to focus the author.

To write The Salton Sea Chronicles: Violator, I assembled literally hundreds of photographs (some mine, some from the internet) to visualize the storyline. After finishing the novel and doing both an electronic (on screen correction) and a paper edit (print it out and make corrections), I incorporated those revisions and then asked how I wanted the novel to sound and feel. Take a look:

The Salton Sea Chronicles: Violator

I used Judas Priest’s A Touch of Evil as the defining song, and then sequenced the images—all in black and white and manipulated heavily for contrast and grain—into the storyline. When I finished, I had something that gave me the tone and pace of what I wanted the novel to accomplish. A focus trailer gives the author a running video in his head, but beyond that I wrote The Salton Sea Chronicles trilogy with an eye to movie or television production. For a variety of reasons—length and copyright issues—my focus trailer could not be used for sales. Mine is an author’s exercise and as such does not have the quality necessary for a sales trailer.

Now, get trailing!

An Interview With Author Minnie Lahongrais

2011-08-21T13:21:00.000-07:00

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

Thank you Lee, for this incredible opportunity! It is both an honor and a pleasure.

To answer your question--who am I? Hmm, I am a woman, born in and raised on the gritty streets of NYC, East Harlem to be exact, a proud descendant of Puerto Rican immigrants. I have a grown daughter and a 9-year-old grandson who are my reason for being. I currently live in the Bronx.

During the day, I work as a legal secretary at an international law firm for a well-known former Assistant Attorney General who is extremely supportive of my writing. Although I love what I do and am comfortable in my day job, I have come to the realization and have accepted the fact that I am also a writer with a very vivid imagination. Writing and/or researching my works are how I spend most evenings and weekends unless I have some other obligation.

I am an avid reader and have been considered to be somewhat of a dichotomy. I can be extremely sensitive, and at other times brutally honest. I have a fascination for people and am often annoyed by how oblivious people can be. However, I do enjoy people watching and figuring out what makes them tick. I can sometimes be afflicted by severe ADD wherein I drift into my own world enabling me to notice things that most people miss. It is during moments like those that I find my inspiration.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

I released my debut novel, “Sinner’s Ride” in April 2011. It is the story of a young girl, about to turn 18, who is sexually assaulted by her father and how that event changes her. It is a gritty, graphic, twisty/turny story, ending with an unexpected twist. It takes place mostly in a section of the Bronx called “Little Italy”. This story is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for anyone under the age of 18. Many, who have read it, women in particular, loved it. Men often tell me that it was hard to get past the first couple of chapters because the assault is described so graphically. Overall, what I keep hearing is that it is “un-put-down-able”. I’ll let you be the judge.

“Sinner’s Ride” was written organically, without any real formal plotting. I just let it flow as it was written for NaNoWriMo last year, and I felt a little bit of pressure. It was my first attempt at anything like this and it was blissful ignorance. I got the idea after treating my daughter to a live Mary J. Blige concert on her birthday. We had a wonderful time, admittedly imbibing quite a bit. A few days after the concert while considering what story I was going to write, I tried to remember whether Mary had sung one of my favorite songs - “I’m Going Down”. Needless to say, when I asked my daughter about it, she teased me saying I was getting old and my memory was fading. We continued chatting about what we could do if it were up to us to film a video for that song and it was with that conversation in mind, that my prologue for “Sinner’s Ride” was written. Though I’m not sure how I came up with the assault, I’m glad I did because it grabs the reader immediately, maintaining a hold on him/her. It was originally supposed to be a story about a diamond heist. Go figure! However, it just flowed from there and I became obsessed with the story, finishing a version I was satisfied with in February.

Currently, I have two works in progress. My first priority is a story called “Standing on the Precipice”. This one, I’m writing a little bit differently. I am formally plotting this one out very carefully creating psychological profiles for each of the four main characters and doing lots of research. This story is continually evolving as the characters are developed and they begin to interact. Generally, it is a story about a middle-aged woman who is at odds with what direction she wants her life to go. She has a loving, supporting partner, but more importantly, she is experiencing an internal struggle relating to old world values and ideals she was raised with vs. her desire to satisfy her curiosities outside of those values/ideals. She pays for that curiosity with her life with the story continuing with a search for her killer.

There is a shocking, unexpected twist to this story as well.

Other works include an urban fantasy trilogy called “The Radocians” with the first book entitled “Resurrection of Dead Dreams”. The basis for this story is my ongoing struggle with my father’s death almost six years ago. It stems from my desire to have just one more conversation with him, to hear his voice once more, maybe give him just one more hug, a kiss – anything that will bring him back to me. Then reality set in and I knew that “just once more” would not be enough for me. I know I’ll want more. There are shocking events throughout this story and as with “Standing on the Precipice”, this story is constantly evolving.

Originally, it was going to be just one book, but as I delve into the different characters and their struggles, it becomes more and more complex and so I decided there had to be a beginning, middle, and an end to this tale, with each one of those components being told in their own book. I have a draft of the first book containing about 18 chapters. This too, is being written organically as I am happiest and most satisfied with the work that I create in this manner. That’s not to say that “Standing on the Precipice” won’t be satisfying to me, but it certainly is a challenge for me to work with a formally written plot.

In addition, I am working on an expanded version of “Sinner’s Ride” to be released in the UK and this will include some extras. I have also begun thinking about taking that story a little further with additional installments.

Yes, it’s a lot of work, and I often wonder where I will find the time, but I am enjoying myself immensely! The way I handle multiple projects, is to just let them tell me what demands attention. Sometimes I’m feeling a little evil so I will work on “Standing on the Precipice”. Sometimes I feel melancholy, so I’ll work on “Resurrection of Dead Dreams”. And sometimes events in my past flash before me and I jot down ideas for potential future projects and now this new release of “Sinner’s Ride”.

I am a tortured soul!

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

Lee! That’s like asking me which one of my children is my favorite! LOL! I am proud of “Sinner’s Ride” because it was my first published work and your first is special the rest of your life. With that one, I met a challenge I set for myself head on and succeeded. Success being measured not by sales, but by the mere fact that I, this child of the ghetto of East Harlem, raised in government run apartment housing, by parents who didn’t speak the language for many years, educated in the public school system of NYC, has been able to accomplish something I never, ever dreamed could be possible. Doubt is a bitch. It’s debilitating, it can be paralyzing -- but I am proud of that piece of work because it has enabled me to open my mind and be comfortable in the fact that I can actually do this type of work, notwithstanding that intermittent moment of self-doubt.

I am proud of “Standing on the Precipice”, though it is not complete, because it is allowing me to not only stretch my imagination, but to challenge myself even more to grow and write a more complex story that will appeal to people who may be going through some of the same issues.

But I am most proud of “The Radocians” and “Resurrection of Dead Dreams” in particular because in it I pay homage to my father, the man who taught me just about everything I know about being true to myself, to take chances, to follow your dream. There were two things he constantly said to me. One of them was: “Find something you have a passion for then figure out how to get paid doing it!” Writing this story has been invaluable to me; what with all the crying, it’s been cathartic. And, it’s cheaper than therapy!

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

When it comes to reading, though I enjoy non-fiction and biographies, right now, I prefer fiction and, lately, paranormal romances and urban fantasy in particular. Real life is hard. I’ve had some experiences that would knock you off your feet. There has to be a reason why I am still here. Reading books in these genres, is a way for me to escape the realities of some of the events in my life. I turn on the news in the morning while I prepare for work, and it is ugly! Maybe what we need is a demon, a vampire, or werewolf to set the world straight? Who knows?

With regard to writing, because I’m a newbie, I want to experiment with genres and see where my strengths lie. The thing is that I don’t like being pigeon holed and I do want to stretch my abilities. Therefore, “Sinner’s Ride” is a straight up thriller/mystery. I would consider “Standing on the Precipice” the same and “Resurrection of Dead Dreams” urban fantasy. At some point, I would like to try my hand at erotica as well. Ooh! That doesn’t read too cool! Let me re-phrase: I would like to try writing tasteful erotica. ☺. Ugh! Double-entrendres!

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

This question made me laugh out loud. I can be very much a loner particularly when I have a mindset to write. I mean, I know how to be around people and conduct myself in a manner that is enjoyable, but when I’m home with a desire to write, I need total and utter silence. I don’t drink and I don’t take calls when I’m writing because I can’t risk messing up my flow.

If after a day at the office, I have something I need to get down, you will find me in my daughter’s old bedroom, sitting at my desk by the window typing away stopping every once in a while to pet my cat, Bosco who is always at my feet. Petting him helps me think.

On the other hand, if when I get in on a Friday night I don’t set about writing, I will bring my laptop into my bedroom so that I have easy access to it upon awakening and I can write if something comes to me in a dream or even if I just wake up inspired. When that happens, I usually work until I have to get out of bed then move to my desk in the other room after breakfast and my morning routine to spend the day writing.

My energy is very intense when I am wrapped up in my writing. I don’t hear anything, and I don’t feel or see anything but what is on the screen. I get lost in my stories. If you were watching me while I was writing, you might see me physically react to what I’m writing. I might laugh, sneer, I suck my teeth a lot, and I’ve cried. I’ve even jumped up out of my chair and said to myself “Damn girl! Really?” LOL!! I forget to eat. I’ve been startled by my daughter who has come to check in on me because she hasn’t heard from me or to feed my sorry butt.

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

Often, I step away and go for a walk or the gym to air out the cobwebs. If that doesn’t work, I call someone who also writes. That person now is usually Jorge Salgado-Reyes, my new publisher over at Indie Authors Press. He’s really good at helping me sort things out. Sometimes he’s so damned logical I wanna give him a friendly smack on the arm! LOL!

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

The process for “Sinner’s Ride”, from start to finish was very short–4 months. I started “Resurrection of Dead Dreams” in May 2010 and I’ve been creating “Standing on the Precipice” for about six months now. Obviously, those and any future projects will go through a much longer process because my expectations for myself have been heightened. I’ve been told writers spend a year or more on this process.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

I’ve said what I’m about to say in other blogs because I believe it is essential: Never stop looking at the world around you. There are stories there. Never give up. Write every day, even if it’s just one line. Start a blog. Join Twitter/Facebook. Engage your followers. Be friendly. It doesn’t cost anything to be nice. Talk with other authors and it will help foster your imagination. Your desire to keep going will grow.

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Synopsis for Sinner’s Ride

What happens when your whole world is turned upside down? What do you do when the people around you aren’t who they seem to be?

This is Sinner’s story. Sinner is a teenager living in the Bronx in New York City. On the eve of her eighteenth birthday she is sexually assaulted by her father. Following the attack, she undergoes a dramatic change and makes a life changing decision for which she pays a heavy price. Or does she?

Take a ride with Sinner and hold on tight because the twists and turns of this story will take your breath away!

#SixSentenceSunday

2011-08-21T08:32:00.000-07:00

This excerpt from The Salton Sea Chronicles: Sleepwalker is lightly edited for a non-age restricted blog.

My mind drifts to a girl I did yesterday afternoon knowing I made her feel for the first time, but Thunderscreech knows I am the virgin and will give me the screw of my life once I get it into the air. I think have the cojones to stand up to this mongrel, but it laughs at me knowing I am an under-endowed little boy.

The official temperature on base today is one hundred and ten degrees, so inside the cockpit it must be more like one hundred and twenty. Sweat runs down my back and I can feel it running through my crack and pooling under me. I hate having a wet crack and sweaty nuts.

“I’m going to look like I’ve pissed myself,” I mutter.

In a Race to Out-Rave, 5-Star Web Reviews Go for $5

2011-08-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

The following is from the New York Times. I wonder what the rabid defenders of five-star reviews will say now.

In a Race to Out-Rave, 5-Star Web Reviews Go for $5

By DAVID STREITFELD
Published: August 19, 2011

In tens of millions of reviews on Web sites like Amazon.com, Citysearch, TripAdvisor and Yelp, new books are better than Tolstoy, restaurants are undiscovered gems and hotels surpass the Ritz.

Or so the reviewers say. As online retailers increasingly depend on reviews as a sales tool, an industry of fibbers and promoters has sprung up to buy and sell raves for a pittance.

“For $5, I will submit two great reviews for your business,” offered one entrepreneur on the help-for-hire site Fiverr, one of a multitude of similar pitches. On another forum, Digital Point, a poster wrote, “I will pay for positive feedback on TripAdvisor.” A Craigslist post proposed this: “If you have an active Yelp account and would like to make very easy money please respond.”

The boundless demand for positive reviews has made the review system an arms race of sorts. As more five-star reviews are handed out, even more five-star reviews are needed. Few want to risk being left behind.

Sandra Parker, a freelance writer who was hired by a review factory this spring to pump out Amazon reviews for $10 each, said her instructions were simple. “We were not asked to provide a five-star review, but would be asked to turn down an assignment if we could not give one,” said Ms. Parker, whose brief notices for a dozen memoirs are stuffed with superlatives like “a must-read” and “a lifetime’s worth of wisdom.”

Determining the number of fake reviews on the Web is difficult. But it is enough of a problem to attract a team of Cornell researchers, who recently published a paper about creating a computer algorithm for detecting fake reviewers. They were instantly approached by a dozen companies, including Amazon, Hilton, TripAdvisor and several specialist travel sites, all of which have a strong interest in limiting the spread of bogus reviews.

“The whole system falls apart if made-up reviews are given the same weight as honest ones,” said one of the researchers, Myle Ott. Among those seeking out Mr. Ott, a 22-year-old Ph.D. candidate in computer science, after the study was published was Google, which asked for his résumé, he said.

Linchi Kwok, an assistant professor at Syracuse University who is researching social media and the hospitality industry, explained that as Internet shopping has become more “social,” with customer reviews an essential part of the sales pitch, marketers are realizing they must watch over those opinions as much as they manage any other marketing campaign.

“Everyone’s trying to do something to make themselves look better,” he said. “Some of them, if they cannot generate authentic reviews, may hire somebody to do it.”

Web retailers are aware of the widespread mood of celebration among their reviewers, even if they are reluctant to discuss it. Amazon, like other review sites, says it has a preponderance of positive reviews because of a feedback loop: Products with high-star ratings sell more, so they get more reviews than products with poor ratings.

But they are concerned about the integrity of those reviews. “Any one review could be someone’s best friend, and it’s impossible to tell that in every case,” said Russell Dicker, Amazon’s director of community. “We are continuing to invest in our ability to detect these problems.”

The Cornell researchers tackled what they call deceptive opinion spam by commissioning freelance writers on Mechanical Turk, an Amazon-owned marketplace for workers, to produce 400 positive but fake reviews of Chicago hotels. Then they mixed in 400 positive TripAdvisor reviews that they believed were genuine, and asked three human judges to tell them apart. They could not.

“We evolved over 60,000 years by talking to each other face to face,” said Jeffrey T. Hancock, a Cornell professor of communication and information science who worked on the project. “Now we’re communicating in these virtual ways. It feels like it is much harder to pick up clues about deception.”

So the team developed an algorithm to distinguish fake from real, which worked about 90 percent of the time. The fakes tended to be a narrative talking about their experience at the hotel using a lot of superlatives, but they were not very good on description. Naturally: They had never been there. Instead, they talked about why they were in Chicago. They also used words like “I” and “me” more frequently, as if to underline their own credibility.

How far a business can go to get a good review is a blurry line. A high-end English hotel, The Cove in Cornwall, was recently accused in the British media of soliciting guests to post an “honest but positive review” on TripAdvisor in exchange for a future discount of 10 percent. Nearly all the recent reviews of the Cove are glowing except for the one headlined, “Sadly let down by overhyped reviews.”

The hotel said it was a loyalty scheme that was being misconstrued. TripAdvisor, though, posted a warning about the Cove’s favorable notices on its page for the hotel. The site declined to say how often it has had to post such caveats.

Founded 11 years ago, TripAdvisor never expected to see so many positive reviews. “We were worried it was going to be a gripe site,” said the chief executive, Stephen Kaufer. “Who the heck would bother to write a review except to complain?” Instead, the average of the 50 million reviews is 3.7 stars out of five, bordering on exceptional but typical of review sites.

Negative reviews also abound on the Web; they are often posted on restaurant and hotel sites by business rivals. But as Trevor J. Pinch, a sociologist at Cornell who has just published a study of Amazon reviewers, said, “There is definitely a bias toward positive comments.”

Mr. Pinch’s interviews with more than a hundred of Amazon’s highest-ranked reviewers found that only a few ever wrote anything critical. As one reviewer put it, “I prefer to praise the ones I love, not damn the ones I did not!”

The fact that just about all the top reviewers in his study said they got free books and other material from publishers and others soliciting good notices may have also had something to do with it.

Even if you get a failing grade or two, all is not lost. Dot-coms like Main Street Hub manage the reputations of small businesses for a fixed fee.

“A courteous response to a negative review can persuade the reviewer to change their reviews from two to three or four stars,” said Main Street’s chief executive, Andrew Allison. “That’s one of the highest victories a local business can aspire to with respect to their critics.”

The result, he said: “It’s like Lake Wobegon. Everyone is above average.”

Why I Dislike Writing Gurus

2011-08-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

The messiah complex is one sick mindscrew and writers with said complex style themselves as writing gurus who want to build their platforms at other writers’ expense.

I know too many writers who are NOT intimidated by the notion they could be a catalyst in another writer’s success. In fact, true writers encourage novice writers.

Too often, self-styled writing gurus are narcissistic, passive-aggressive, insecure, delusional dimwits who live in a world of coffee houses and Bohemian existence, but the quality of their work is laughably pathetic. They are charlatans, but they attract sycophantic followers who will defend them to the death as a poor, tortured soul who needs compassion. Codependent!

Here is what to avoid when dealing with self-impressed, writing messiahs.

Red Flag #1:Paying for Presence

Real writers enjoy being in the presence of writers and nurturing new writers. If your guru makes you pay to be in his presence, his motivation is money, NOT helping you become an author. Spend your money on an alpha reader instead of lining the pockets of someone who has done vanity publishing.

Red Flag #2: I’m Unavailable, But Don’t You Dare Move Without Me!

If your guru wants to you control as a writer, tell the person to go twist in the wind or get some therapy. I prefer saying the former. A real writing coach would never abandon a group he is working with. A real writing coach would never make a group of writers work only when he can be present.

Red Flag #3: Broken Promises

If your guru promises access to all his connections, but tells you you’re not good enough to be introduced, you have a megalomaniac on your hands.

Red Flag #4: Writing Process Clichés

Beginning writers sharing their manuscripts with each other is a zero-times-zero outcome, but it looks powerful and nurturing to those in the writing group.

Red Flag #5: Watch Me Be Cutting Edge

Be wary of gurus who want to amaze you with how cutting edge they are. “I write on my iPhone and publish first drafts on a literary site!” And? Does the writing fall apart when analyzed in Flesch-Kincaid? Big time! People who seek to be cutting edge do so because they want you to believe in their genius in an uncharted environment. Quality does not matter because the field is uncharted, therefore they get away with writing utter crap.

Red Flag #6: My Platform is All About Me

Enough said!

Writing at its finest…Underwater!

2011-08-19T06:52:00.000-07:00

The Salton Sea Chronicles is always interested in HOW authors write. Every one of us has had the experience of having good writing come to us when we are not at our computers. How do we trap those flashes?

by Alison Garza

Most ask me “what would I see if I watched you write?" I do not have a definite answer to that one. If I am on a real writing jag you can find me at my computer desk, a desk so littered with broken pencils, pens, scraps of paper, and novels that you cannot even see what kind of wood it is made out of. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and grab up my notepad and jot down ideas usually around 3am, but I would be really "weirded" out if you were watching me then.

The best time for me write is when I am underwater. My greatest ideas come when I jump into my pool in the early hours of the morning, after a 10 mile bike ride. I get a snorkel, goggles, and a weight. I then sit in the shallow end and think. I am in a new world as if everything has changed. Fiction becomes a reality to me. When I am submerged, my mind changes. My once clouded thoughts become crystal clear and organized.

I have written my best stories while underwater. Each time I come up for a break I write them down on a pad of paper and pen I leave at the pool side. It is very peculiar to see, most think I am mad, but this is my way to write. To fuel the crazy way I write I usually drink a coffee or two before my morning bike ride and take an espresso shot of what ever is handy.

If I am lucky I have my waterproof paper and ink with me and I wont come up for hours at a time. I’ve freaked people out by me just sitting in the bottom of the pool not moving just chilling. I would much rather like it if it rained, but here in Bakersfield good rain only comes once in a few years. Showers are good too. I could not tell you how many times I have turned the shower on steaming hot and sat on the bottom of the tub writing for hours on end. Talk about a water bill…

In the end the only way you can watch me write is to either come swimming with me at 7am or stay the night at my place (I only write either early morning or extremely late at night). My door is always open, though when I write it stays shut from the prying eyes of my parents, just step right in. you have been warned, however, some things you may see me write can cause nightmares.

A #WIP

2011-08-16T08:57:00.000-07:00

The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to share this work in progress by our sometimes contributor Matthew Lee Darringer. @MDarringer on Twitter.

Wednesday, October 10th 1984
9:01 a.m.

Cash sits on the fender of his station wagon trying to make sense of the past twelve hours. He needs sleep, but broad daylight conspires against him. He could use a drink, but needs clarity more. He wants more sex, but is too exhausted from last night's romping. The change he invited in brought with such a ripple effect. Why had he waited until he was an adult to have sex for the first time? Was he feeling true love or just the Christmas-morning ecstasy of the morning after?

Ruined.

There is no going home. Is this motel room on Union Avenue Cash’s new home? He wonders how he will land on his feet, or whether he will fall face down. Why should it be so hard to get a job washing dishes at the Bakersfield Inn? Why does he need female body parts to get a job cleaning motel rooms? He remembers the motel owner at the TraveLodge laughing at him because cleaning rooms was women's work. Cash wants and needs a job.

“Cigarette?” a voice startles Cash out of his thoughts.

Authors, Where do Your Characters Come From?

2011-08-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

In writing this piece about where authors get their characters, BBC America’s Oz and James' Big Wine Adventure featuring Oz Clarke and James May came to mind to illustrate perfectly two personality types of authors I have known: the arrogant, self-impressed expert and the down-to-earth writer.

Oz Clarke is a wine expert, but he absolutely must ram that point home by vomiting facts and terms to separate himself from garden variety experts. Such arrogance in his case, while pathetic, is also comical. I do find authors in this mode to be pathetic, but comical in no way. Authors of this stripe want people to fawn over them always remaining at their feet and always being undyingly grateful for the nothing they have given.

Authors in this mindset will often resort to pithy, inflated descriptions of their craft and process saying things like the characters are inside them waiting for the author to give them birth. I seriously do not know how much of such bloviation stems from too much wine now or bong loads back in the seventies, but I am instantly unimpressed with authors who impress themselves. Authors such as these are utterly unwilling to giving insight into how they write because they do not just want to be more creative than you, they want to be more creative than creative geniuses.

Authors of the second mindset—the down-to-earth variety—will be quite candid as to how they created a character. They may say they base some characters on a person they know. A character may be an amalgam of a number of people. A random observation in a supermarket may give an idea for a character. A picture may create a character and from there the hard work of characterization begins. Some authors go grocery shopping through their character’s eyes. Through it all, this second group of authors will talk about the hard work they go through to envision and enliven their characters.

The Salton Sea Chronicles would like to hear from authors. Where do your characters come from and how to you bring them into reality?

An Interview With Author Kerry Freeman

2011-08-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

My name is Kerry Freeman, and I write gay romance. When I have to be pithy, I usually say I'm an author, a geek, and a Southerner.

I began seriously writing a few years ago (unless you count that stint writing software manuals). Sometimes I still wonder if I'm a writer or an author or if there's really any difference. I didn't begin consistently calling myself an author until my short story was published.

Geek-wise, I've got cred, lots of it. I've been a web developer for over fifteen years, and I'm self taught. I go through laptops, cell phones, and gadgets faster than most people go through shoes. My husband is still beside himself that he managed to find a female who watches Diggnation with him.

I was born and raised and still live in Alabama. I used to dream about leaving for the big city, but now just visiting one gives me hives. My stories are always set in the South, and I use research as an excuse to go on road trips.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

My short story "Realize," a contemporary gay romance, was published by Torquere Press in April, and I recently contracted with Loose Id to publish my first novel, a gay contemporary menage romance. It's scheduled for release in October.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

The one of which I'm most proud will probably never be published. It was the first thing I wrote that made people tell me I should write professionally. I usually chalked that kind of talk up to politeness or too much alcohol, but people kept bringing it up as an example of what I could do if I wanted.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

My preferred genre is gay romance. My first exposure to it was through slash fan fiction, and I sought out original gay fiction after that. I prefer romance because I'm a sucker for the HEA/HFN. I don't mind the characters going through some hell, but I want something warm and fuzzy at the end.

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

Me, curled up in my recliner, barefooted, my Macbook on my lap. I'm usually trying to make myself ignore Twitter or Tumblr, and sometimes (like now) I've got iTunes playing something. My year-end goal is to turn one of the spare bedrooms into a proper office.

6. When you get writer's block, how do you respond?

I listen to music. Music is always my savior. I get more ideas listening to music than anything else. My current project started out as a thought I had listening to a song on the radio on the way to lunch. The resulting plot has nothing to do with the song, but I'll always remember the song playing when the first idea came to me.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

I began planning my upcoming Loose Id release last October, and I began writing it as my NaNoWriMo 2010 project. I finished writing it in December, and made edits in February and June 2011. I pitched it to Loose Id at the end of June, and the rest is history.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

The best piece of advice I got when I began is the same advice I pass on to everyone starting out: if you want to be a published author, you need to act like a published author. Begin blogging. Interact with others, especially published authors in your genre. Treat it like a profession you love and not a hobby.

And, for God's sake, have fun. Life's too short to write stuff just 'cause you think someone will buy it. Write what makes you happy. You will find that it makes someone somewhere happy, too. (I still have to remind myself of this.)

Links:

"Realize" on Torquere Press

kerryfreeman.com

kerry-freeman.blogspot.com

Critique Group blog

Goodreads profile

Google+

Lit Reviews: The Last Straw Bashing GLBT Lit

2011-08-13T20:47:00.000-07:00

Should book sites NOT allow reader reviews?

Maybe.

Justice matters to me.

Readers of this blog know I cannot stand reviews saying “I liked it! I really, really liked it!! Five stars!!!” They also know I fly into apoplectic rage at the notion of reviews written by family, friends, and pen-named ghosts. I also rail on authors trading 5-star reviews as a part of an underground, indie-authors, publishing mafia. Is there more to despise about reader reviews? Read on!

I read on my Twitter feed a conversation in which two individuals discussed a third who was not “down with” GLBT literature. In fact, he despised GLBT literature enough to go around writing scathing reviews of gay-themed pieces.

Oy vey! Santa Madre de Dios protéjanos de locura!

I have two responses.

The first is that this latest piece of hurl just proves—AGAIN—how utterly pointless ratings and reviews are. I am perfectly OK with someone not liking a piece of literature and saying so, but if the person is anti-GLBT then why waste time reading GLBT literature in the first place?

I do not give a flying fig about Harry Potter, therefore I will not read the books.

If a person is going to write a review, he should at least read the piece in the first place. I never read anything I am not interested in and will bluntly refuse on that basis alone.

My second response is this: I am perfectly OK with someone NOT being into GLBT literature. Someone could be GLBT friendly and not be into the genre.

Beyond that, however, tolerance of something, contrary to what some dolts think, does NOT mean liking it. Heck, tolerance does not even giving approval. To be tolerant, one needs only to live and let live. THAT is what tolerance really means. Look it up sometime.

Therefore, if GLBT literature is not appealing to an individual, my advice is move on.

The person going around trashing GLBT titles is the same type of nimrod who, forty years ago would have bashed Chicano literature when it exploded into the mainstream, or fifty years ago when African-American literature did likewise. This person, no doubt, believes his diatribes will kill off sales of GLBT titles and thereby end all that strange GLBT stuff.

King of denial.

The function of reviews is to attract readers and to drive sales. The reviews I have written have been worded to encourage sales because I can say they are engaging reads. No review from me means I cannot recommend a title. That simple.

Note to Michael Mandrake: a review is in the pipeline.

The function of reviews is also to get more than 99 cents for an ebook download.

Yet, we have utter crap for reviews.

Even with those employed to review works, there is still the risk of bias. For years, if the Los Angeles Times hated a movie, a new album by an artist, or a novel, then I knew it would be one that sane people like me would love.

Maybe the best advice is buyer beware.

That is sad; I posit.

Writing the Real Whumpa-Thumpa

2011-08-13T08:06:00.000-07:00

Today The Salton Sea Chronicles features a guest article by local writer Matthew Lee Darringer continuing his theme of writing about what he stumbles over as a writer.

There is a bias in some circles that writing romance for an author is a kin to an actor working on a soap opera, but like the soap opera actor, I am ok with the territory.

In seeking to write romantica, the sub-genre between romance novels and erotica, I have come across publishing houses wanting a specific level of heat, usually on a 5-point scale, but no “industry standard” as to what those levels should be. After reading several scales, this is what I have pieced together:

Level 1: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

At this level, the characters kiss, but once they get the notion to unzip a fly, they go behind closed doors for implied alone time. Calling it “making love” may even be too racy. What in Hell is this? Christian romance writing? Yet, we never hear them call out to God. Rating G. Without any sign of a pulse. No reaction from me below the navel. Boring.

Level 2: OK It’s Happening, But Look the Other Way

Here the folks are making love, still behind closed doors, and we hear only how the sexual act made them feel emotionally after the fact. Talk about taking all the fun out of sex! Let’s have implied sex and then ruminate about how we feel. You mean the answer isn’t “damn good!” as the characters gasp with delight? No! That would be racy. We like our romance Camry boring. Rating G. Too tame. Still no reaction from me below the navel. Boring.

Level 3: You Can Watch, but Don’t Tell Too Much

Now, when our peeps are getting down to business, we are there and we know what is going on, but we avoid being too cinematic with our description because we would not want to be too graphic. Body parts have euphemistic, inoffensive names like “throbbing love gun” and “golder bozos” instead of real names. Forty years ago this would have been considered borderline pornographic I guess. Rating PG13. Less tame. It suddenly dawns on me I have a bodily region below the navel. Mildly interested.

Level 4: Smile For the Camera

Now we are getting somewhere! The sexual relationship goes on full display with nekkid people, more explicit talk, and action that would occur between two people in a sexual relationship. We are less interested in covering how sex makes the characters feel after the fact and more how they feel in the moment. Damn good! Rating R. Not tame. Something is stirring below the navel and I like it. You have my full attention.

Level 5: The Real Whumpa-Thumpa

The clothes are off and probably discarded along the way to the bedroom, things are happening, graphic depiction, woo hoo ride ‘em…Oh sorry. I got carried away. Did you see when…Oops my “gnatlike” attention span is working against me. Is that even legal in this county? Sexual tension, desire, and acting out permeate the storyline. Characters may have no time for emotional examination because they are too busy doing the real whumpa-thumpa all the time! All bets are off. Anything goes. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me. Sorry, mind wandered again. Rating R but just barely. Does not understand the meaning of the word tame. You have my full attention and then some. I think I will remain sitting for a while if you don’t mind. Pay no attention to me. I’ll be thinking of smelly old men in Boca Raton talking about how to remedy their constipation.

I have also discovered in my research that women tend to prefer levels 2-4 for their romance novels, whereas men prefer 4 and 5…well probably only 5, we try to appear less Neanderthal by including 4 in the mix.

Writing a Good Review: Lesson 4

2011-08-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

The next time you get ready to review a novel, plug some of it into a Flesch-Kincaid calculator like this one:

Readability Index Calculator

This will tell you whether the author has been successful at reaching his target audience.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level

Knowing your target audience is important. If you are writing YA Fantasy and your grade level number comes in a 9 or higher, you have written beyond your target audience.

Here are some rough guidelines for grade levels to target:

Children: 6 and below
Young teens: 6-9
Teens: 8-10 (This would also be a sweet spot for romance novels for adults)
Adult: 9-11
Academic adult: 11+

Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score

As its name implies the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease Score (0-100) shows how accessible the piece is. The ease level operates inversely with grade level. With grade level, the higher the number, the more difficult the piece is likely to be, whereas with the reading ease score the lower the number is, the more challenging the piece is.

Children: 80+
Young teens: 70+
Teens: 60+
Adult: 50+
Academic adult: below 50

Below are some excerpts that have been put through Flesch-Kincaid analysis. Pay special attention to the targeted audience versus grade level versus readability.

The Salton Sea Chronicles: Avenger / Lee Prewett

I think back to my first glimpse of the Salton Sea twenty-two years ago through the vibrating windows of my father’s Cadillac sandwiched in the back seat between my twin-brother Nick and older brother Jake who was twelve at the time. Nick and I were half his age. Life seemed less complicated then for our Kodacolor-perfect family. I point the Nikon S2 I hold and capture an image. Dad, a well-connected businessman, married a daughter of wealth, and together they would bring a total of four blond-haired, blue-eyed boys with Pasadena Country Club manners into this world.

I wind the film forward and shoot another picture. The air conditioner whistles valiantly through small ports in the dashboard attempting to cool the interior, but the one hundred and seven degree ambient temperature outside holds the upper hand. Mom wipes her neck and shapes her hair with her thin, white hands as best she can trying to stave off the ravages of heat-induced perspiration on her hairdo. She knows dad expects her to be radiant at all times.

“Save some film for North Shore, son.” dad calls out from behind the wheel. “I only brought six rolls.”

Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 10
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score: 53
Target: Adult audience F-K grade level 9-11/ F-K reading ease 50+

The Cask of Amontillado / Edgar Allen Poe

THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. AT LENGTH I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled -- but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile NOW was at the thought of his immolation.

He had a weak point -- this Fortunato -- although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian MILLIONAIRES. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen , was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially; I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely whenever I could.

It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress and his head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 11
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score: 47
Target: Teen audience F-K grade level 8-10/ F-K reading ease 60+
The Cask of Amontillado is a staple in American 9th grade English curriculum (public high schools). This would be considered a challenge read for freshmen GATE (gifted) students, difficult for college-prep, and impenetrable for remedial.

Across the Sahara / N. L. Belardes

An hour passed. I sat in the quiet of my office and ordered a bus ticket.

Within two hours I was dragging my suitcase down a street that paralleled Interstate 15. I walked past Palace Station where OJ was caught and thrown in the slammer. I turned east on Sahara Avenue and made my way through the hundred-degree heat over the freeway. The Sahara Hotel loomed in front of me. I'd stayed there for several days when I moved back to Las Vegas. Then I was at John's house, living in his spare room. Now here I was walking back to the Sahara, pulling my suitcase along a dirty street and looking down at piles of broken glass on industrial rooftops.

That night I sat on the edge of my bed and stared toward the window as darkness flickered with casino lights and hummed with the monorail’s monotone singing.

In the morning I packed my suitcase for the last time. I walked out of my room. No hint of remorse for having quit my job. I simply began my journey as some journeys begin—an invisible string tugged my ass along.

The elevator had a musty odor. The doors opened and I passed the Sports Book and the lobby. The casino was nearly empty. In a few corners sat sleepy drunks. They streamed money into machines. Just a little slower than usual. Rusted automatons.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 8
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score: 57
Target: Adult audience F-K grade level 9-11/ F-K reading ease 50+
This was published at thenervousbreakdown.com and if you like this, Nick has other creative, non-fiction shorts there.

The Scarlet Ibis / James Hurst

It was in the clove of seasons, summer was dead but autumn had not yet been born, that the ibis lit in the bleeding tree. The flower garden was stained with rotting brown magnolia petals and ironweeds grew rank amid the purple phlox. The five o'clocks by the chimney still marked time, but the oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle. The last graveyard flowers were blooming, and their smell drifted across the cotton field and through every room of our house, speaking softly the names of our dead. It's strange hat all this is still so clear to me, now that that summer has since fled and time has had its way. A grindstone stands where the bleeding tree stood, just outside the kitchen door, and now if an oriole sings in the elm, its song seems to die up in the leaves, a silvery dust.

But sometimes (like right now), as I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away--and I remember Doodle. Doodle was just about the craziest brother a boy ever had. Of course, he wasn't a crazy crazy like old Miss Leedie, who was in love with President Wilson and wrote him a letter every day, but was a nice crazy, like someone you meet in your dreams.

He was born when I as six and was, from the outset, a disappointment. He seemed all head, with a tiny body which was red and shriveled like an old man's. Everybody thought he was going to die. Daddy had Mr. Heath, the carpenter, build a little mahogany coffin for him. But he didn't die, and when he was three months old, Mama and Daddy decided they might as well name him. They named him William Armstrong, which was like tying a big tail on a small kite. Such a name sounds good only on a tombstone.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 9
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score: 62
Target: Teen audience F-K grade level 8-10/ F-K reading ease 60+
The Scarlet Ibis is a staple in American 9th grade English curriculum (public high schools). This would be considered a challenge read for remedial and college-prep freshmen, but grade level for GATE.

The Union / Matthew Lee Darringer

Bakersfield, the famous dusty, blue-collar spot in the road, variously named Alkali City and Kern Island witnessed Carson’s death spiral in 1955 as he tried out a new nightclub act after the network canceled his variety show. In his stumble from fame, he landed a gig at local nightclub, Maison Jaussaud, thinking his Hollywood halo still shone, but locals read his weakness and sent him crotch kicked back to Hollywood. Here, a person either kicks spit or gets his spit kicked.

Officer Vetters reviews which team he belongs to, taking another drink from the flask before screwing the top back in place. Living a lie proves taxing.

These days America’s Newest City, tries to be more than a home to illiterate breeders, toothless Joes decrying the moronic Democrats, truck stops selling crank so Bubbas can make their miles, clustertrucked Bible thumpers praising the Lord even for their own farts, and Nancy boys plugging each other at Beech Park in the men’s room. Yes. This is freefall. Welcome home.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 9
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score: 56
Target: Adult audience F-K grade level 9-11/ F-K reading ease 50+
The excerpt here is in edited form given this is not an age restricted blog. The unedited form was analyzed.

The Most Dangerous / Game Richard Connell

"OFF THERE to the right--somewhere--is a large island," said Whitney." It's rather a mystery--"

"What island is it?" Rainsford asked.

"The old charts call it `Ship-Trap Island,"' Whitney replied." A suggestive name, isn't it? Sailors have a curious dread of the place. I don't know why. Some superstition--"

"Can't see it," remarked Rainsford, trying to peer through the dank tropical night that was palpable as it pressed its thick warm blackness in upon the yacht.

"You've good eyes," said Whitney, with a laugh," and I've seen you pick off a moose moving in the brown fall bush at four hundred yards, but even you can't see four miles or so through a moonless Caribbean night."

"Nor four yards," admitted Rainsford. "Ugh! It's like moist black velvet."

"It will be light enough in Rio," promised Whitney. "We should make it in a few days. I hope the jaguar guns have come from Purdey's. We should have some good hunting up the Amazon. Great sport, hunting."

"The best sport in the world," agreed Rainsford.

Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 7
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score: 65
Target: Teen audience F-K grade level 8-10/ F-K reading ease 60+
The Most Dangerous Game is a staple in American 9th grade English curriculum (public high schools). This would be considered a "grade level" read for freshmen.

The Blue Moon Café / Rick R. Reed

…Sam leaned back against the headboard and lit a cigarette. The room filled with the acrid stench of burning tobacco and paper and instead of being repelled as he normally would be, Thad moved close to Sam again, taking up his newly claimed spot on the man’s chest. He stared up at him, watching him smoke. Lazily, he traced circles in the hairy mat covering Sam’s chest. His fingers stopped when he caught sight of a design on Sam’s left pectoral, something he had hadn’t
noticed in the dim light or perhaps because it was all but hidden by the forest of hair. Thad got up on one elbow.

“You have a tattoo?”

In the dark, Sam nodded. “I’ve had it for years, way before tattoos were all the rage like they are these days.”

Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 8
Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease score: 65
Target: Adult romance audience F-K grade level 8-10 / F-K reading ease 50+

Writing a Good Review: Lesson 3

2011-08-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

Pointing out grammatical flaws in a review is not wrong, mean-spirited, or judgmental because you are reading a final-draft, published copy of the work which should be flawless. Pointing out grammatical lapses is necessary so that authors get it through their thick skulls that just because you can publish on Smashwords with a couple clicks of the mouse, what you publish still needs to be beyond reproach.

Indie lit is at a crossroads. Either it will remain an “anyone can be an author” venture mired in the culture of “anything goes” expectations, or it will demonstrate the dogged pursuit of literary perfection, apply standards, and expect authors to meet said standards.

Our reviews MUST drive this latter goal.

To be blunt, the quality bar is set pretty low in indie lit with a Hostess-Twinkie mentality of writing literature in which contractions, run-ons, fragments, and starting sentences with coordinating conjunctions is OK.

I suppose if you are only looking for your Andy Warhol fifteen minutes of fame, then be slavish to pop-literature trends, but if you want to have more than your fifteen minutes before being forgotten, here is why those issues mentioned must be confronted.

Contractions

The use of contractions outside of dialog in literature separates the Big Macs from the filet mignon. Decide where you want to fall. In the purest sense contractions are for conversational language and not for written discourse. Contractions were invented to allow us to speak faster, but they are NOT to be a part of literary writing EXCEPT when used in dialog. Some say the use of contractions in narration makes the work more readable (i.e. “dumbed” down), but do those who spew this nonsense spend any time doing Flesch-Kincaid analysis for grade level and readability statistics? Of course not!

Throw a paragraph into a readability index calculator sometime.

Flesch-Kincaid Readability Statistics

Readability Index Calculator

Run-Ons, Comma Splices, and Fragments

There are four sentence types: simple (one clause), compound (2 clauses with a coordinating conjunction), complex (2 clauses with a subordinating conjunction), and compound-complex (a complex + a simple). Literature is expected to be written with the conventions of formal English and therefore “sentences” (they really are not sentences), which do not fall into one of these four categories, are incorrect usage. They are NOT stylistic and to say so is to show ignorance of correct English.

Coordinating Conjunctions Starting Sentences

This one is easy. Coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, so, yet, for) coordinate therefore they must occur between clauses, inside of a sentence. The dreadful trend of coordinating conjunctions starting sentences is considered “style” by bubble-gum, Big Mac authors, and if you want to be a pop-lit author, fine, but expect to be told you are just a car and not a fine automobile.

Remember: Quality matters.

Writing a Good Review: Lesson 2

2011-08-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

The quest for more specificity in book reviews continues with a discussion of narrative point of view

Several ways exist to sift the narrative point of view (POV).

The foremost one is grammatical. Is the story told in first person (I, we), second person (you), or third (he, she, they)? Third-person narration tends to be the most common among new writers, though, as we shall see, NOT necessarily the easiest to write. First-person narration is easier to write but also limits the author. Second-person narration? Who cares!

Another way of looking at POV is whether the narrator is reliable or unreliable. Readers discover an unreliable when his account of events seems fishy, misleading, “spun” or biased, distorted, or different from what the reader knows or suspects to be true. This can be sinister as in Montressor’s narration in Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado or innocent as in Huck Finn’s perspective in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

In Montressor’s case, he is confessing his sins to a priest on his deathbed so that he will not have the mortal sin of murder on his soul when he dies and thereby not be sent straight to Hell, but can we believe his account of the events? Montressor wants us to believe it was a crime of passion, but evidence of premeditation lurks. As for Huck Finn, the fourteen-year-old boy is not trying to deceive us, but his age distorts his perspective.

Reliable narrators are trustworthy from start to finish.

We also must determine whether the narrator is subjective, objective, or omniscient. The subjective narrator lets the reader fully into one character. This would be the most common way to write a first-person narrative, but it is possible with third as well. An objective narrator does not reveal the inner workings of characters’ minds allowing the reader to infer them. For an author, this is a difficult write because there will be the tendency to lapse into an omniscient view where the narrator sees all and knows all.

First-Person POV

The first-person perspective means the narrator is a character inside the story. Generally, this would be subjective narration because the main reason for using first-person POV is to go deeply inside the mind of the narrator to tell his story. Objective, first-person narration is possible, but what would the author derive from it?

Among dolts with PhDs, debate rages as to whether a first-person narration can be omniscient, but I remain dubious. I, as a person, cannot know the true inner thoughts of anyone else and, for me, such is the case of first-person narration. Sure, when God pens his next great book, I will assume omniscience.

First-person narration is most likely to be subjective and unreliable.

My friend on Twitter @sirra_girl has kindly allowed me to do a cut and paste of what she said on third-person POV:

sirragirl.blogspot.com

Different Types of 3rd POV

…(A)mong newbie writers, the Third Person Point of View is exceedingly common. Why? Because it gives writers the freedom to go beyond what the MC can see from every angle. They think they’re playing it safe, but in actuality, they’re playing with fire.
First of all, they have to know that there are 3 types of Third Person Point of Views: 3rd Subjective (limited), 3rd Objective, and 3rd Omniscient. Beginners fail to distinguish between them and end up doing what’s known as “head-hopping.” The head-hopping occurs when a writer jumps into each character as if in 1st POV but while using “he” or “she.” So this is why I’ve decided to do a post on the different types of 3rd POV.

3rd Subjective (limited) POV is where the narrator can tell the entire story but by revealing the inner thoughts and feelings of one (main) character. The rest of the characters is shown only by their actions and dialogue. This is where the head-hopping can be prevalent. The writer must not go into the heads of the supportive characters.

3rd Objective POV is where the narrator doesn’t reveal the inner thoughts and feelings of any particular character. The readers are left to view the actions and dialogue of all characters. It’s almost like watching a movie. You know there is a main player, but the scene is from a distance and you’re not told of what’s in his head.

3rd Omniscient POV is where the narrator becomes the god-like or the know-all story teller. Readers are privy to each and every character’s inner thoughts and feelings. The narrator can go inside of one character to another throughout the story. The downside of this is that the readers might feel too distant because there is no one character they can define themselves with.

Shifting POV

Shifting the POV between first and third person is quite controversial and for good reason. Considered among writing gurus as a real no-no because it can be messy, rambling, and confusing, most of the time authors steer clear. However, if done consciously, it can work…MAYBE. I have seen it done effectively, but if not done well, the reader does a lot of head scratching.

The one thing a shifting POV does is to immediately make the narration unreliable because it comes from multiple perspectives, hence the danger, controversy, and admonitions not to do it.

The major drawback of first-person narration, though, is the reality that essential parts of the story happen outside the purview of the narrator as character. Authors can handle these essential parts of the story in two ways. The first-person narrator/character can have a conversation revealing what happened elsewhere, or the story can shift POV to third person to show what happens parallel to the narrator/character’s path.

At no time, though, can a first-person narrator/character know something he has not directly experienced or been told.

Writing a Good Review: Lesson 1

2011-08-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

The indie writing community is full of authors who take their craft seriously, yet so much sturm und drang occurs whenever anyone says “Hey members of this community, let’s actually make our reviews thoughtful and meaningful.” If we are hard-working authors, why is it too much to ask to write better reviews?

But, Holy Moses, people get their undies in a knot to defend the right to say “I give it 5 stars because I really, really liked it.”

Oy vey, Santa Madre de Dios, protéjanos de locura!

I do not have time for holding the hands of people with weak egos who, steeped in their Oprahpsychology, think we must only say positive things and that a 4-star review might hurt someone’s feelings.

I make no apology for my directness here. We need truth and we need to be able to handle the truth.

Gushing, five-star reviews of indie lit are a dime a dozen rendering them, unfortunately, meaningless, so why defend to the death the right to spew more of them?

Five out of five MUST mean the piece stands under the proscenium arch with the other pinnacles of literature. Unless we adopt that rigor, indie lit will continue to be dismissed by literary snobs.

A review should convey the person writing it has read the novel and taken some time to think about the craft of the author so the 4 or 5-star rating is justified.

If indie lit is EVER to be taken seriously, the plethora of 5-star reviews has to stop along with authors whoring behind the scenes for 5-star reviews of their upcoming novels.

We need and deserve reviews which go into detail about the craft of the novel: characterization, plot, POV, narration...

To that end:

Comment on the antagonist and protagonist and please use the correct terms.

The protagonist is the main character in a story and is the one readers empathize with. Protagonist is the correct term, not the trendy “MC” moniker.

The antagonist challenges the protagonist in some way. The antagonist does NOT have to be an enemy.

Once you have identified protagonist and antagonist, comment on how they are developed:

Static VS Dynamic Characterization

A static character does not undergo substantive change in a storyline, whereas a dynamic character changes significantly.

Flat VS Round Characterization

A flat character is one not well defined within the story, whereas a round character is one so vividly defined that we can almost see him and feel we know him.

So, let us look at the matrix of archetypes.

Static-Flat (SF)

A static-flat character would be one who does not undergo change and who is not deeply defined. At first glance we would wonder why any author with a brain in his head would want such a character in the first place? Here is why: good writers do NOT deeply define all their characters for to do so would (1) be self-indulgent, (2) a waste of writing time, and (3) annoying to the reader who has to sit through the life dossier of the gas-station attendant who has a casual conversation with the protagonist and never returns to the story. SF characters provide the “community backdrop” through which the protagonist and antagonist duke it out.

Static-Round (SR)

A static-round character begs the question as to why an author would deeply define a character only to have him NOT change. The answer is pathetically simple. SR characters are foils who contrast with the protagonist in order to sharpen that character’s personality. There is a reason for the foil being a sidekick to the protagonist and the reader needs to know it. This has SR written all over it. A foil would not change much for to do so would be to rob the thunder of the protagonist. Let us imagine the protagonist is neurotic. In order for the reader to understand the impact of the character's psychological dysfunction, a character must exist as a yardstick. That simple.

Dynamic-Flat (DF)

A dynamic-flat character is also another head-scratcher for McDonald’s grade authors. Why would we have a character who undergoes substantive change and not have him well defined? What if your antagonist, or protagonist for that matter, is an enigma? Enigmas, by their very nature, are not well defined. Mystery is good. A DF character done well keeps the reader wondering what is the story behind the story and why the character ticks the way he ticks. DF characters can increase the dramatic tension in the plot.

Dynamic-Round (DR)

The dynamic-round character is what some misguided writing coaches purport to be the holy grail of writing when in reality a DR character can be very tiresome to have to read. DR characters are by far the most difficult to write well. Imagine the flood of sensory detail, angst, spleen venting, clichéd moments of self doubt, and trembling-lip moments that COULD pollute a DR. The trick with a DR character is to have him bloom organically rather than have the heavy hand of the author intrude. If done well, a DR makes a great protagonist or antagonist.

Biscuits and Gravy

2011-08-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

Another fun little work in progress #WIP from emerging writer Matthew Lee Darringer. Zingo's is a famous Bakersfield restaurant as quintessentially brilliant as the good-natured, hard working people in the town I call home. Thank you Matt, for letting me share your work in progress.

“You’ll like this place,” Newman says as they walk toward the glass front door underneath the neon Zingo’s sign. “Here no one cares how high or low you are. As long as you can pay you bill, you’re welcome.”

There it is, the brightly lit microcosm of Bakersfield with its sparsely populated counter and the aroma of fresh coffee even at this ungodly hour. New French fries do their death dive into spattering hot fat giving off their golden fried smell of perfection. The melange of beef, onion, and garlic steams from a plate as a waitress moves past the two young men with meatloaf, potatoes, and gravy. This feels like home.

Newman walks toward the counter and sits. Cash does likewise.

“Your usual?” the smiling waitress asks as they sit at the counter.

“Yes, Darla,” Newman answers.

“Coffee and B and G,” she says scribbling onto a pad. “Who’s your friend?”

“Darla, this is Cash,” Newman says. “He’s only been in town a couple of days. Give him some biscuits and gravy too. He needs to feel loved.”

“Coffee?” she asks.

“Yes, ma’am,” Cash answers.

“Don’t worry, son,” Darla smiles. “Once you accept the fall, it all becomes easy.”

Are Prologues Just Played-Out Clichés?

2011-08-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes a using a prologue to begin your novel can be like taking a Ruger Redhawk .44, loaded with hollow-point bullets, holding it at arms length pointing back at you and pulling the trigger with the hope no one gets hurt.

But first, some Shakespeare:

"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."

The Prologue to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet perfectly illustrates why prologues can be utterly pointless in literary pieces. Billy Shakespeare tells us the entire story of the play in fourteen lines. Now that I know the punch line, why do I want to sit through two hours of Romeo and Juliet: Men In Tights when I could be drinking beer and watching monster trucks with all my redneck friends? All of The Prologue’s information is conveyed during the play making it profoundly redundant.

Of course, literary snobs fume protesting that prologues open a story, establish the setting, give background details such as what happened earlier, and other miscellaneous information.

To which I challenge: Is the writer incapable of creating a setting in Chapter 1 of a novel? Is background information really that difficult to merge with the prose of the storytelling? If what happened earlier is so important, should the story not START there? Is miscellaneous information really that impossible to incorporate as necessary in the storyline?

This summer I have read manuscripts and eNovels. Some came saddled with ineffective prologues that confirmed bad writing through the rest of the novel. Needless to say I will not be reviewing them for my blog because that would just initiate a pflingpu.

My basic question is whether a novel absolutely needs a prologue and my premise is that nine times out of ten the answer is a resounding NO!

Yes it is possible to do a good prologue. The Blue Moon Café by Rick R. Reed and An Epitaph For Coyote by Bryan R. Dennis are two examples of how prologues can be used effectively. Neither author created a redundancy and if anything their prologues function more like teasers rather than traditional prologues.

I sometimes think some authors are a monkey-see-monkey-do lot and fall for a syllogism:

Rick R. Reed is a damn good writer. His novel, The Blue Moon Café, began with a prologue. Therefore, to be a damn good writer I must have a prologue.

FALSE.

The two novels I mentioned are damn well written from start to finish, period.

I read one novel draft with a shitacular prologue that took me three chapters to recover from. The rest of the novel was semi OK not too very bad. Deleting the prologue would have made it 100% better, but the author was not interested in listening. You engage an alpha reader and then choose not to listen…NICE!

Having suffered through so many poorly written prologues during my fifty years on this mortal coil, my jaundiced eye views them as having a greater chance of detracting from a piece rather than adding to it.

Therefore, I would challenge working authors to write well as their first priority and to include a prologue only as their last resort.

#SampleSunday #WIP

2011-08-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

Authors on Twitter post samples on Sundays and also their works in progress.

by Matthew Lee Darringer from The Union a novel in progress

Tuesday, October 9th 1984
11:11 p.m.

Twenty-two dollars, three fives and the rest ones, bulge inside Johnny Cash’s wallet. His right hand, thumb through the belt loop of his jeans, pats the right, front pocket where instinct tells him his stash will be the most safe. Soon it will run out. Five days without the prospect of a job means the luxury of eating at Der Wienerschnitzel across the street will have to stop. Something has to give and he fears how low he will have to sink when that happens. One hundred dollars—all he could grab when he left home—seemed like so much, but gasoline alone ate thirty-five of his stash and zero shall become the new value of his soul.

Design Your Novel's Cover

2011-08-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

To avoid getting into a protracted singfu with those who design novel covers for a living, let me state, up front, I am NOT telling authors to design their own covers for publication.

Just as I believe all indie authors should hire stabby editors to perfect manuscripts for publication, designers, like my friend Jeannie (@surferartchick), would be the first to say a well-designed cover--even on ebooks--attracts readers and is worth the expenditure. Yes that was a shameless plug for Jeannie, but she is good at what she does, so there!

What I propose here is an exercise.

Just as I have written about creating dossiers of your key characters before writing your novel, I believe in the importance of envisioning the cover of your book. The cover of your book is a hook for the buyer and it often portrays something about the main character or the plot. Do you know what your hook is? Do not tell me what your hook is. You are a writer of course you can put your hook into words. I want you to show it to me. What does your hook look like?

Creating a book cover for this exercise is simple. Open Word. Paste in a graphically strong jpeg representing something about novel. Float transparent text boxes with the title and your name and begin getting a feel for what you want the novel to tell a buyer who must decide whether or not to buy your book.

I asked my compadre Matthew Darringer to gin up some covers. Here we go with his efforts and comments.

The setting of my storyline is Union Avenue in Bakersfield in the early 1980s and focuses on the crime-ridden, seedy underbelly of runaways who become prostitutes to stave off the inevitable. This picture is of a guy sitting on asphalt, smoking a cigarette, with a needle not far away. This speaks volumes about the ruination I hope to document accurately. I must also say I prefer black-and-white photographs.

Perhaps many will not recognize this early picture of Austin Armacost, but fans of Austin's from The A-List New York know him to be a smack-talking, truth teller. This "edge" is exactly what my character Newman represents in his story line. Moreover, you know the guy in the picture is staring at you, but he is wearing sunglasses so you have no way to gauge what he thinks. Seeing everything, but choosing not to see is a theme in my novel.

This is such a great image. The old fence represents a prison of sorts and the placement of the text makes the human being faceless. The fact that you can see his expression but not his eyes makes his truth that much more disturbing.

Again this is an amazing find of a photograph. I like the defiance of the pose and also the go-to-church-on-Sunday look of the guy. This is what Cash looks like when he drives into town. He may strike a strong pose, but his face betrays his thoughts. You can see what he thinks. You know just by looking at the cover how the main character will act.

Thank you, Matt. Envisioning the pictures of the story in your novel is a wise move. Consider that movies are often based on novels, thinking visually makes sense.

If any readers would like to post mock ups, please contact me @SaltonLee on Twitter.

It’s Time to Grow a Set

2011-08-05T10:32:00.000-07:00

Imagine if someone asked for critique in the following way (as someone DID):

“Help me! I really need good and bad comments on my manuscript. The only rule is to make your bad comments constructive!!! I need all the positive reactions I can get. LOL HMU”

My first, unspoken, response was: “Away from me, vapid fool!”

My second, unspoken, response was: “You are truly NOT ready for a critique because I have no idea what I am supposed to critique.”

This person wants an “everything” critique and, sunshine, that ain’t how it works in the world of writers.

What do you want? Be precise when asking for criticism. Alpha readers zoom through fast looking for plot and character coherence and provide a global perspective that drives revision. After a deep revision, Beta readers challenge wording and deeper aspects, which drive additional revision and rewriting. Asking someone to critique a manuscript makes as much sense as telling someone to ensure world peace. Too complex to accomplish.

My third, unspoken, response was: “Get past your ridiculous Oprahpsychology (sic), self-esteemicist (sic) bull crap. If your feelings will be hurt by someone’s comments about your writing, you do not have the spine to deliver truly good writing.”

While no one should be intentionally hurtful, why waste time NOT being blunt? If I have to hand hold someone to point out what needs to be fixed, the reality is that the person NOT ready to truly work his writing.

Such a person wants the illusion that he tried really, really hard and that is all that matters in this world. WRONG!

People like this need to keep Julia Cameron’s books selling by reading her drivel and going off to journal their angst and ennui in coffee houses. Have I already said that is vapid?

Do us all a favor and be precise. What specifically do you want from the critique? It is professionalism to do so.

How Can You Write What You Write?

2011-08-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

by Matthew Darringer

Sitting in a peer-response group with others reading your draft, is like being naked in front of people, because those reading your draft may not be your target readers and their responses, therefore, may not ring true to what you need to hear as a writer wanting to improve his writing.

Imagine sitting in a group with three other people none of them seeking to write anything remotely edgy and you put this first draft of a portion of your chapter in front of them:

This avenue closes its crooked fingers around the captive’s neck promising ruin will excite him. Alone, heaven cannot see him out here. He cowers like a beaten child, this place guaranteeing his death with a wretched smile. Circumstances make him pay his debt to ruin by selling his soul for survival, each day farther from salvation.

He has no time to be careful of what the avenue will give him in return. He cannot hesitate for the pain ready waits and he must push the wire under his skin where he cannot live without the chemical that cannot live without him. He feels the clammy cold coming on with his body twitching, but can he find an entry point among all the needle scratches? How does it feel to be unloved?

He blames it on past wrongs bringing deserved punishment, or a God who abandoned him, but the avenue knows its lines, each one well rehearsed. There is no escape once he gets sucked in. The avenue drags him down until he finds no solid ground, only messianic Christians telling him he is wrong.

You read it…and wait in silence. You see them straining to come up with something to say. They pretend to reread it. You know they are buying time and trying NOT to show their discomfort. Then one brave soul says: “How can you write what you write?”

There it is: assumption and judgment in one question. One of the great writing clichés is that we must write what we know, which is patently false, but everyone—including working writers—will say it. If what you write pushes, or, even worse, offends sensibilities then clearly a person verges on being called immoral.

The cogs turn some more. If you are writing this so convincingly then it must mean you directly experienced it.

Welcome to Bakersfield where nice people reserve speaking their judgment of you until you are out of earshot and they do. Welcome to Bakersfield where actual sinners “find God” to get judgmental people off their backs, because once they do so, the nice people leave them alone. What if you are a sane, normal person, but you like to write edgy stuff? The nice people will judge you and assume you are bad.

If I am bad, so be it.

A Review of Rick R. Reed’s Blue Moon Café

2011-08-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

This summer, authors allowed me to interact with them and learn about their writing. My observations have driven this blog’s posts as followers well know.

My first exposure to Rick R. Reed came when he allowed me to interview him, but beyond that, he patiently answered my incessant questions about Indie publishing etc. always with good nature. Reed styles himself as writer of gay horror with a romantic edge and that was a genre or two with which I was unfamiliar. His obvious success as an author shows he has tapped a significant audience. So why not pick up one of his novels?

Great writing, like the taste of fine wine, is self-evident and does not require needing to develop a taste for it. The appreciation of the technique of great writing, like the nuances of wine making, is a separate issue, but a pointless endeavor if the taste fails to impress.

By any measure, The Blue Moon Café impresses. The storyline is robust, fusing together the plot of a budding romance against a backdrop of heinous murders occurring in Seattle. The characterization unfolds the lives of two men, Thad and Sam, with their portrayal being multi-dimensional. These are dynamic/round characters rather than the clichéd, static/flat characters so often a part of D-list bodice rippers. The Blue Moon Café is A-list. The deft use of Seattle’s personality creates a familiar setting even if a person has never experienced the city, as I have.

The challenges of budding relationships (attraction, communication, desire, and trust) drive the exposition of Thad’s romance with Sam in such a way that the universality of love comes through…along with some steam. Reed’s portrayal of Thad and Sam’s love is heartfelt, but lurking in the background is the horror of the murders. Reed wastes no time casting Thad and Sam onto the jagged rocks of those murders and lets them fend for themselves. What secrets does Sam hide? Will Thad be able to accept them?

The Blue Moon Café is just a damn good novel, period. Go read the ebook.

buy The Blue Moon Cafe here

www.rickrreed.com

The Growing Importance of a Four-Star Review

2011-08-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to bring this guest post by friend Andy Christofferson. Thank you for this article which speaks to an inherent truth we all know but seldom put into words.

by Andrew Christofferson (@VizProd on Twitter)

I had an extended conversation with a book blogger recently, and by the end of it we both concluded that for a new author—whether traditionally published or self-published—a 4-star review is in many ways more significant than a 5-star review.

Even if it’s your first novel, unless you’re some kind of socially inept freak (and for the sake of argument let’s say you’re not) you can almost certainly get at least one 5-star review—whether it’s from your mother, a friend, or another aspiring writer who does it in exchange for you returning the favor. In fact, up to a certain point the number of 5-star reviews is a better indication of your social skills and networking ability than of the quality of your writing.

So if anyone can get one regardless of talent, how useful is a 5-star review really? To me not very. I certainly don’t read them, and I most definitely would not ask someone to write one for a book of mine. Because when I see a 5-star review for a debut novel by an unknown author, I generally assume it was written by a friend, family member, or fellow Indie author.

A quality book review should not just tell you whether a person liked a book or not, but should also give you enough information to help you determine whether you would like it. Comments about the style, pacing, things that worked well, things that maybe didn’t work so well—these are the characteristics of a book review that might actually be useful to a potential reader. And let’s face it, someone who possesses the depth and breadth of skill and knowledge to write a review in this manner probably isn’t going to be handing out 5-star reviews to debut novelists like candy on Halloween.

I don’t think most readers are convinced by a 5-star review that is little more than a six-sentence way of saying “I really liked it.” Or if they are now, I suspect they’ll become increasingly less so as time goes on. On the other hand, a well-written 4-star review is far more persuasive. The 4 stars suggest that it wasn’t simply written as a favor to the author, and as such may be viewed in a far more objective light.

I don’t expect people to rush out and delete all the 5-star reviews from their books, but from the perspective of a reader I think more and more people are going to look for that quality 4-star review when it comes to making their purchasing decisions.

A Few Minutes With Emerging Writer Matthew Darringer

2011-07-30T07:48:00.000-07:00

Many people want to be authors, but of the few who actually compose something, even fewer have the will to work their writing until it is publishable grade. As a writer, I like working with other writers and to see a new name emerge is always exciting. I am sure Matthew Darringer will be one of those names. His initial drafts are promising.

1. First of all, the name, what’s up with that?

Yeah. I’m lucky that way I guess. If it will get me in the door then I suppose it’s cool. Some have said it sounds like a guy who would have made movies in John Wayne’s time. People always tell me my last name is misspelled, that it should be Derringer like the gun people and, while I would like to have some gun money to inherit, I’m afraid I will have to earn money the old-fashioned way. Work is the four-letter word we all have to do to be able to afford other four-letter words.

2. What is your biggest challenge as a writer?

Here in Bakersfield there really is no vehicle for someone who wants to be a writer to be able to become one by working with other writers. Factor in that making a living as a writer is a pipe dream and finding time conspire against people.

Here in town, there are well-meaning people who gravitate around two groups of writers. One is older and entrenched and can be intimidating when you’re not published. They are very friendly and have real, published authors in the group. Granted they may be POD or vanity authors, but they are at least putting their money where their mouths are. The other group is more upstart, but exists entirely at the whim of the guy running it. I’ve sat in church listening to sermons. I don’t feel that will make me a better writer. So, you get down to writing realizing no one will help you.

3. What is your genre?

Adult contemporary romance and by “adult” I do not mean porn, but a few ticks beyond the “that’s nice” politeness of so-called sensual (i.e. open bedroom door) romance. Romance is fun, but after the wine and roses crap, good old-fashioned sex is a hell of a lot of fun. People want to read it. It sells. You get published. I mean we’re all adults here.

4. Isn’t that a bit racy for Bakersfield.

The reality is that this town is so narrow-minded about sex and yet this is the place that brought us the Lords of Bakersfield scandal. Everything goes on here, everyone knows it goes on here, no one talks about it, and they go to church on Sunday and wave their Bibles around praising the Lord the morning after a night in their home dungeons. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but not too far fetched in this don’t-ask-don’t-tell town.

5. What are you working on?

A novella (30-40K words) set in Bakersfield. It will look at the seedy underbelly of some hard-living people.

6. What kind of people do you like to write about?

Women who understand men and don’t play mind games and men who haven’t had their balls cut off by the Oprahs of the world. I always watch people wherever I go out because characters write themselves for you if you just pay attention. The more serious people are about themselves the more they reveal what they don’t want you to see.

Novel Starts #4

2011-07-29T09:10:00.000-07:00

I asked a number of authors for their first two to three sentences so readers of this blog would get a feel for how a variety of writers tackled the task. The purpose of the week-long series was not to assign a “best” as some wondered behind the scenes, but instead to trigger creativity. Sometimes just a couple of words can start the flow. I specifically have not provided the context of any of these simply for that purpose. Here are some more.

Ties That Bind / Carolyn Arnold / @Carolyn_Arnold

Someone died every day. Madison was left to make sense of it.

Death Sword / Pamela Turner / @PamelaTurner

“Fail this assignment and don’t bother coming back.”
Xariel grasped the handle of his concealed dagger, recalling Metatron’s warning.

The Bamboo Mirror / Faith Mortimer / @FaithMortimer

... Diana stretched. Her legs felt cramped and sore.

Impeding Justice / Melanie Comley / @Melcom1

At the sound of helicopter blades whirling in the distance, Detective Inspector Lorne Simpkins leaned over the steering wheel and peered at the sky. She couldn’t see the chopper, but judged it to be hovering beyond the towering buildings which bordered the Thames to her left. She imagined the armed response team crouched inside it, guns locked and loaded, waiting for her call.

Breaking the Curse / Andrew Christofferson / @VizProd

The swords glinted in the afternoon sunlight as the two men circled each other.

Novel Starts #3

2011-07-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

The blinking cursor stares at the start of a new novel…

I asked a number of authors for their first two to three sentences so readers of this blog would get a feel for how a variety of writers tackled the task. I will go first, not because I think mine is the best, but to be as unguarded with the gracious authors as they have been with me. Their Twitter identities have been included should readers wish to investigate more.

The Salton Sea Chronicles: Violator / @SaltonLee

“I should have told him I loved him more often,” I say to myself holding back tears in the afternoon sun. “Maybe he would have listened.”

I walk one foot in front of the other, grinding my steps on dirt and gravel next to the edge of the asphalt highway, deliberately moving forward as the hiss of tires and roar of an engine announce an approaching car.

Tricks / Rick R. Reed / @RickRReed

Arliss had everything he needed right in front of him for that night’s performance—hardhat, check, steel-toed boots, check, tool belt, check, black mesh thong with pouch for his rather prodigious endowment, big check—yes, Arliss was just about ready for his turn on the stage at Tricks, located in Chicago’s infamous Boystown neighborhood, at its epicenter on the corner of Belmont and Halsted.

Solomon’s Key / Tim Ellis / @timellis13
The woman’s breasts had been removed. The sweet coppery smell of coagulated blood lodged in his throat. He forced himself to look.

Brad / Ken Smith / @eroticwriter

Brad bent and rubbed his ankle. He hadn’t considered how high the branch of the oak tree really was. “That was some jump,” he muttered, sucking blood from his grazed leg.

Urban Hunters / Gary Taaffe / @urban_hunters

A lucky carpet python slithered from a crevice to catch the early morning sun – a potential respite, but the boy’s fears persisted. Cobar had seen him with a frown of concern a lot lately, after a troubled night’s sleep.

“Where’s your spirit, Billy?” Cobar said as his withered legs lowered him to the edge of the cliff face beside his great-grandson. He peered past his dangling feet to watch a stone descend beyond his sight into the river far below.

Starts # 2

2011-07-27T06:41:00.000-07:00

“It was a dark and stormy night…”

Those first couple of sentences of a novel set the tone for what is to come and ideally they draw the reader into the text in such a way that the reader cannot put the book down. We all want to write those “gotta finish” novels.

I asked a number of authors for their first two to three sentences so readers of this blog would get a feel for how a variety of writers tackled the task of beginning. I will go first, not because I think mine is the best, but to be as unguarded with the gracious authors as they have been with me. Their Twitter identities have been included should readers wish to investigate more.

The Salton Sea Chronicles: Avenger / @SaltonLee

I think back to my first glimpse of the Salton Sea twenty-two years ago through the vibrating windows of my father’s Cadillac sandwiched in the back seat between my twin-brother Nick and older brother Jake who was twelve at the time. Nick and I were half his age. Life seemed less complicated then for our Kodacolor-perfect family.

IM / Rick R. Reed / @RickRReed

When Tony logged on to the Men4HookUpNow website, he didn’t know that this would the last time he would type in his screen name and password, the last time he would scroll through thumbnail-size pictures of men in various states of undress, or the last time he would read an instant message.

Tony didn’t know that logging on to Men4HookUpNow.com would be one of the last things he would do.

A Life for a Life / Tim Ellis / @timellis13
The machine swallowed Greg Taylor’s day-return ticket to London. He stepped through the automatic barrier as it opened; unaware that he would be dead before he reached his house.

unpublished work in progress / Cassie Hynds / @CassieHynds

Christy sat in her car, looking nervously at the clock. It was almost time, and even though she was already in the parking lot, she still didn't know if she could go through with it.

An Epitaph for Coyote / Bryan R. Dennis / @BryanRDennis

Neither pathos nor curiosity lured the moon to that starless patch of the Mojave Desert. It was just passing through, as it had every night since time immemorial, forever detached from the plight of Earth and all her inhabitants.

Going Nowhere, Going Fast

2011-07-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

Going Nowhere, Going Fast...a video trailer for The Salton Sea Chronicles created by Alison Garza.

An Interview With Author Kage Alan

2011-07-26T06:02:00.000-07:00

"...if you have faith in your finished manuscript, then don’t give up..."

Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

I am many things, several adjectives of which probably shouldn’t be seen in print despite folks saying them to me while in public. I’m definitely a smart ass to boot, which has served my books well. I’m also an only child, a soon-to-be-husband to my partner who I’ve been with for 16 ½ years, a caregiver to my father while he progresses through the stages of Alzheimer’s, and an author.

Writing has been a part of my life since 1st grade, which is when I started writing puppet plays. It progressed from there.

What are some of your publications or works in progress?

My novels that are currently in publication include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Sexual Orientation, a sequel to it titled Andy Stevenson Vs. the Lord of the Loins and the first book in a new series, Gaylias: Operation Thunderspell. I’m currently in the process of writing the second Gayliasbook and have a couple of others on the back burner.

Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

I’m equally proud of all my books because they represent a very specific time and place in my life where I felt I had something to prove to myself. A Funny Thing… was my way of turning coming out from something dramatic into something humorous that other folks might relate to and Andy Stevenson Vs... took a stab at how hellish dating can be. That being said, Gaylias was born out of my need to move away from the Andy books and challenge myself to create new characters who folks enjoyed, take on a different genre, turn it on its head and still somehow make it my own.

Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

The irony is that friends who knew me back in high school and college would swear I’d end up writing horror and science fiction. I love watching films from both genres, especially fairly awful b-movies (Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus comes to mind), but writing them? Not so much. Instead I delved into comedy. Why? There are plenty of horrible things going on in the world that we’re hit in the face with each day watching the news, reading the paper or hearing through word-of-mouth. It’s ridiculous. Why not send some of that negative energy out on its ass and help people step away from their troubles for a little while? I enjoy being a part of that and it’s meant the world to me when I’ve received the occasional e-mail from someone telling me that one of the books made them laugh. It fuels the fire to keep writing.

If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

An arched eyebrow, a snarky grin, probably a little dancing in my seat from listening to music, the occasional growl when the phone rings, a giggle when something inspiration hits and a glare when it doesn’t. It’s usually the one time when I can let my evil side out to play without fearing the consequences.

When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

I haven’t really had writer’s block yet, but there have been times I’ve had to step away from writing a book because of other things going on in life. The complications with my father’s Alzheimer’s have been a huge stumbling block in getting the next book out. I suspect if I ever did come up against writer’s block, I’d just hop on a plane to Hong Kong, go shopping, have dinner with my friend Jerry, then fly back and hit Best Buy for a couple of Blu-Rays before driving home and unpacking.

From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

It’s probably two years. There’s 6 months to a year to write the first draft—only because I’m also working another job—then two months to edit, then the rest of the time waiting for the actual publication of the book depending on the publisher’s editing process.

Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

I’m not fond of giving advice because it always seems arrogant for someone to suggest to you how to do something when it comes to your writing. However, two fairly innocent things come to mind. First, if you have faith in your finished manuscript, then don’t give up on it. Publishing is a crapshoot and extremely uncertain. Publishers also don’t know everything despite what they’d lead you to believe, so if you’re rejected, keep at it and check into self-publishing. There aren’t nearly as many upturned noses at self-publishing as there used to be.

Second, work your ass off when your book does come out. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone, call around to book stores and set up signings. If they’re local, drive out to the stores. Put a face to a name and a cause. Contact newspapers and magazines to inquire if they’d be willing to read your book and write a review. If you don’t hear back from them in a couple of weeks, write them a follow-up. Be persistent. Your publisher isn’t going to do this for you. If you want to succeed, then you have to be willing to put in the time. Embrace social media. Find the new sites people are joining. Blog a couple of times a week. Respond to comments left on your blog posts. Respond to people who leave messages on your social media pages. Be approachable and get your personality across. Be involved. Push the boundaries.

www.KageAlan.com
www.kagealan.com/blog
Books are available directly from Zumaya Publications
Facebook
Twitter @KageAlan

Five Novel Starts

2011-07-25T06:33:00.000-07:00

After readers have been enticed by the cover art on a novel, after they have read the back-cover teaser, and after they have plunked down cash to buy it, they start at the start and if the start does not immediately hook them, their opinion of the book can be tainted. Authors struggle with capturing an audience.

I asked a number of authors for their first two to three sentences so readers of this blog would get a feel for how a variety of writers tackled the task. I will go first, not because I think mine is the best, but to be as unguarded as the gracious authors have been with me. Their Twitter identities have been included should readers wish to investigate more.

The Salton Sea Chronicles: Sleepwalker (mild edit for language) / @SaltonLee

“Lieutenant Shelton, I have to hand it to you,” my commanding officer calls out as I march toward him having been summoned to the hangar housing the experimental fighter plane we had on base. “You must have the biggest stones ever on a man for agreeing to try to fly this shaking wench of a plane at top speed.”

This man despises me though I acquit myself well as a pilot.

The Blue Moon Café / Rick R. Reed / @RickRReed

He’s hungry. He eyes the full moon above him through a caul of blood red.

The Smoke in Death’s Eye / Jorge Salgado-Reyes / @J_SalgadoReyes

The lights, a mixture of yellow and neon blue, splash evil shadows against the walls. I liked that. I lived in those shadows, the hum of the Smoke, a never-ending presence.

My target leaned against a scarlet red spinner as he scanned the traffic in the air waiting for his clients. A pusher of the worst kind, he sold 24-hour addiction to the net, the matrix, whatever the mutual illusion we call cyberspace really is, but I watched him because he possessed knowledge I needed. I had to be careful though; he hacked the local cams with his built-in wetware.

Toonopolis: Gemini / Jeremy Rodden / @toonopolis

A teenage boy suddenly appeared in a field, his brow wrinkled in confusion. He was definitely stunned. In his left ear, he heard a faint popping sound followed by a slight whoosh of air as if an untied balloon had been released.

Bonds of Fear / Andrew Ashling / @AndrewAshling

Your secrets taste more watered down each time, but your food was excellent as usual, Mandigaill the Hunter. In spite of your protestations and glaring display of disgust you are here again.

A Review of An Epitaph for Coyote by Bryan R. Dennis

2011-07-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

“In a material society where people define themselves by the things they own, how can individuality exist if everyone owns the same things?”

Beige. Manila folders. That inoffensive, nameless metallic color your Hondayota CamCord comes in every time you buy a new one. Tedium. Ennui.

An Epitaph for Coyote introduces the reader to a boring man, Henry Pluck, who holds down a boring job, to fund his boring life in Las Vegas, the land of bing-bing and bling-dah-bling-bling. He provides us with an uncomfortable mirror in which we see ourselves, but the portrait is unflattering showing us the more we try to control reality, the more imprisoned we become.

The clever naming of protagonist cannot be dismissed. “Henry” could not be a more middle-of-the road name, but his surname, Pluck, illustrates his biggest challenge: to summon the strength to risk, to become plucky. That is the storyline in a nutshell.

To the maximum extent possible, Pluck controls the limits of his space, be it his work cubicle, his house, or the rigid rules in his mind for looking at women. He derives the kind of satisfaction some OCD types revel in. Except, that he is unhappy, if truth be told, and total control remains elusive especially when a lone cockroach wiggles into view and subsequently a bug lady named Rosa.

Mind-numbingly banal memoranda interrupt the story sending out admonishments every one of us has seen where we work and through this device the author cleverly links Pluck’s plight to ours, making his dissatisfaction with the status quo ours.

An Epitaph for Coyote reminds me of Ray Bradbury’s short story There Will Come Soft Rains in which a fully automated house, with unfailing predictability, goes about the business of catering to a dead family after a nuclear war. Like Bradbury’s masterpiece, Dennis’ work has that same, seemingly detached tone, which deepens the reader’s discomfort, and draws us in. As with Bradbury’s piece, social commentary abounds in this satirical novel. The “little pink houses for you and me” world we experience in American suburbia controls us to the maximum extent we allow it to and we need to break free to live.

We want Henry Pluck’s world to be challenged and Rosa is just the catalyst for the job. Paradoxically, Rosa does not want to kill roaches and is quite OK with letting them thrive. The roaches represent a clever metaphor for people trapped in their lives of seeming perfection.

Over time, Rosa jangles Pluck’s world causing him to tolerate more cognitive dissonance over his inability to exert absolute control and bit by bit he relinquishes.

The trick is to be open to change when the bug lady comes to kill your roaches.

Contact the author:
Facebook
Twitter @BryanR.Dennis
Bryan R. Dennis's website
buy the book

Six Sentence Sunday

2011-07-24T06:17:00.000-07:00

Each Sunday, authors on Twitter post six sentences from a piece of literature, either published or a work in progress. The following is an excerpt from The Union by Michael Ramsey.

"Why do people in Bakersfield wear pointed shoes?” asked Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show a decade after the town spit him out. “So they can kick the cockroaches into a corner."

Presumably, people laughed…somewhere.

Bakersfield, this dusty, blue-collar spot in the road, variously named Alkali City and Kern Island witnessed Carson’s death spiral in 1955 as he tried out a new nightclub act after the network canceled his variety show. In his stumble from fame, he landed a gig at local nightclub, Maison Jaussaud, thinking his Hollywood halo still shone, but locals read his weakness and sent him crotch kicked back to Hollywood. Here, a person either kicks shit or gets his shit kicked.

From the Muse…Michael Mandrake

2011-07-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

Characters and characterization drive the stories we write and the better defined a character is the greater likelihood the plot will be well resolved. Letting a character come alive, to the point he becomes his own entity, some would call a muse. We are pleased to have author Sharita Lira back with us as she gives her muse Michael Mandrake free run.

by Michael Mandrake

Hi… waves and has a seat on the couch

My name is Michael Mandrake. I’m one of the muses that came from the wild imagination of author, Sharita Lira. Interestingly, I’m only one of three personalities Sharita considers to be the voices who assist her as she writes stories of love and romance through many genres and subgenres.

Inside this black woman from Chicago, Illinois is a middle aged, gay white British male who tells tales of men in love as they struggle to gain acceptance among their families and peers. In most of my stories, the men are already comfortable in their own skin and no longer have the issues with the “coming out phase.” The characters in a Michael Mandrake story want love, open communication, commitment, and a healthy sex life. grins How they achieve this is all up to the plot Sharita and I come up with and most of the time, it takes them a while before they achieve this.

Why you ask? Well, Sharita and I love to torture our characters. In the first story we did, True Meaning of Love, it was sort of, for lack of a better word, incomplete. There was only one major scene where you got to view that struggle between London and Brandon from the sidelines. I assure you in its sequel you’ll see more since what we aim to achieve is taking our characters “through the wringer” before they get their desired result. Of course, that result is mindblowing sex and mutual understanding. Now, it might take ten thousand words or more before they get that climax. And oh when they get that, they respond. Nothing more satisfying than to see them in the afterglow and once they get done, they move on to a new challenge or the story will get ready to end.

What about our characters? They might be visually appealing to the eye but are severely flawed. Matthew in Only When I Lose Myself has Attention Deficit Disorder, his partner, Adrian, is a singer who in my editor’s words was a selfish git. He also had his own demons he was battling which would be the reason he had a shrink. That one psychiatrist was only one of the reasons they got together.

Another would be my doctor in the upcoming novella, Vertigo. Hayden Currie is a gorgeous man, tall, well-defined, and very rich but his need for the new and unique drives him literally mad and he desires a lover who will take him on an interesting ride. He finds him, a “shifter” by the name of David, who turns out to be more than a science experiment. When they finally find out things about one another, the union is bliss but to achieve it, one has to pay a hefty price.

Those are only two examples of the characters I create. Usually, the models are the beautiful men Sharita has found on the net or ones she admires from afar or is it the ones she obsesses over. winks The plots come from headlines, song titles and lyrics or any number of challenges she deals with in daily life. Whatever she has infused her head with there will most likely be a story behind it. Why? Because me and Rawiya force her to have one. giggles

I, one of the Sharita Lira muses, exist in her head. Hopefully as we get better at honing our craft, I’ll be one of those that will become a well known name in romance erotica along with BL and Rawiya. That is our ultimate goal and since we control Sharita or the head as we’ve aptly named her, we expect to achieve this sooner than later.

evil snicker

Going Nowhere, Going Fast

2011-07-23T16:27:00.000-07:00

One of my beta readers, Alison Garza, dashed off the poem below after reading The Salton Sea Chronicles: Avenger and The Salton Sea Chronicles: Violator back-to-back. They would made idea soundtrack lyrics for a movie version.

by Alison Garza

Going nowhere going fast
Going back to my dreadful past
Demons here and demons there
When I close my eyes He is right here

Brother, Brother where are you?
Lost in this world for two
Keeping secrets, loosing time
Sometimes I think I lost my mind.

Looking around this empty house
Screaming to my midnight ghost
They tell me what to say,
Just tell me what to say..

I'm shouting brother, brother
What is that noise?
Are they real or are they toys
Demons from my sheltered past.
Keeping my soul from the crash

Listen to my weathered soul
Sometimes its all I hold
Don’t leave me here all alone
Lost and dying in the storm

Brother, brother hurry up
We don't have time for you to mess this up
Get right in to my 68
With our luck we will be too late.

I am you and you are me
Trading lives and stealing pasts
These memories are what make me last

Brother brother, hold me tight
lets just make it through this night.…

Passion and Writing

2011-07-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Salton Sea Chronicles is always interested to hear about an author's path. Andy Christofferson graciously accepted the offer to write a brief bit on his "coming to be" a writer.

by Andrew Christofferson

You don’t have to be passionate about something to be good at it, but it certainly does help.

I’ve kept a journal since I was 16, and some of my earliest entries were about wanting to be a writer as a profession. Unfortunately for me, I never had faith in my writing abilities, so instead I pursued math and science, the “practical” subjects.

I studied chemistry in college and while I liked it well enough, I was just never passionate about it. My real passion was still writing, so when I wasn’t studying (or pretending to study) I wrote short stories. One of these was called Bits of Paper, and it was an intense, dramatic study of the depths of loss. I showed it to a friend and after a couple of pages he looked at me and said: “Sorry, I just can’t get into this.”

That put me off showing people my work for, oh, about a decade, but it didn’t put me off writing. I joined the Peace Corps straight out of college because I knew even then I didn’t really want to be a scientist, and when I wasn’t teaching or freaking out from culture shock, I was writing.

And falling in love.

Because doomed-to-fail romances are my other passion life. Not reading about them, mind you, but having them. And when the girl of my dreams moved to England, I foolishly followed. It didn’t work out.

Yet somehow I managed to muddle my way through a PhD in chemistry. The practical, pragmatic side of me just wouldn’t give up. And when I finished with that I accepted a postdoctoral research position in China. Why China? Why not?

All through my PhD and postdoc I continued to write. I finished a book about my experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer, conveniently entitled The Peace Corpse: Misadventures in Love and Africa, but to my dismay no agent would represent me. Apparently there just isn’t a big market for Peace Corps memoirs by people who aren’t famous in some other way. Even people as funny and clever as me.

Who knew?

So I decided to self-publish it. I figured if nothing else it could be a useful resource for anyone interested in learning more about the Peace Corps or about the culture of East Africa. And in the two months that it’s been available? Thirty-two copies sold. And I’m pretty sure 31 of those were my mom trying to make me feel better. Plus I had to buy one myself to make sure the formatting looked ok.

That doesn’t bother me at all. I love every aspect of self-publishing. I love writing, editing, revising, formatting, getting cover art, and...ok I hate marketing, but I have enjoyed connecting with other writers and editors. I found this one guy, and he really seems to know what he’s talking about when it comes to editing.

For now I’ll probably have to stick with chemistry to pay the bills even though I’m not passionate about it, but as long as I still have time to write I’m happy. Next month I’ll be releasing a collection of the stories I wrote over the past decade. The title? Bits of Paper. And if you read it and can’t get into it, that’s cool.

There are plenty of other great, passionate writers out there who you will probably enjoy.

Videlicet Productions

The Union #WIP by Michael Ramsey

2011-07-22T16:17:00.000-07:00

The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to present this first-draft, work-in-progress, beginning to a novel. The piece has been mildly edited to be appropriate to a wider audience.

...Jack Daniels poured hard becomes the best denial anesthesia...

Chapter 1
Monday, October 8th 1984
7:48 am
Bakersfield, California

People free-falling to their lowest ebb have a way of knowing where to land so as to appear whole before the stench of failure becomes apparent. At first they hope their beauty will bring some noblesse oblige and acceptance among the ugly, but when the mirror shows them a crow rather than a swan, Jack Daniels poured hard becomes the best denial anesthesia, but like any soporific, it wears off and the best remedy is a plate of biscuits and gravy prepared kindly by the daughter of an oil-field worker from nearby Fellows who understands and does not judge.

"Why do people in Bakersfield wear pointed shoes?” asked Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show a decade after Bakersfield spit him out. “So they can kick the cockroaches into a corner."

This place, variously named Alkali City and Kern Island before settling on Bakersfield, witnessed Carson’s death drop in 1955 as he tried out a new nightclub act after the network canceled his variety show. In his stumble from fame, he landed a gig at local eatery, Maison Jaussaud, thinking his Hollywood halo shone, but locals saw only a crow and sent him crotch kicked back to Hollywood.

These days America’s Newest City, tries to be more than a home to illiterate breeders, toothless Joes decrying the moronic Democrats, truck stops selling crank so Bubbas can make their miles, clusterscrewed Bible thumpers praising the Lord even for their own farts, and Nancy boys at Beech Park in the men’s room. Yes. This is free-fall.

An Interview With Author Gary Taaffe

2011-07-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

1. Who are you?

My life started out well. I was born and raised in Sydney, Australia with a brother and a sister. Then, as so often happens to kids these days, my mum and dad broke up. My father moved to Hong Kong and started again. He remarried and delivered me another sister, however the delivery of another brother didn’t go well; he died within a day. So I was moved to Hong Kong at eleven-years of age in an attempt to mend the wound left behind. It didn’t work of course. So then I was shipped off to a boys boarding school in the middle of nowhere. Toowoomba Grammar School in Queensland, Australia became my new home for the next five years, where I was suddenly surrounded by tough-as-nails country kids. I hardened up and realised that I was the only who really cared about me, and that life was whatever I decided to make of it. That’s when my life changed. I started taking care of myself and trying to be successful in whatever I did. I’ve been doing that ever since.

I learned from the mistakes of my parents and married well, after three fathers and two mothers, thank you very much. I recently celebrated 20 years, for which I am enormously proud.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

I started writing the Urban Hunters series about four years ago because I was out of work. After reading my journal entries from my hunting expeditions, my friends told me that I should write a book! I enjoyed writing and had a good idea for a story. I gave it a go. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, nor how hard it would be or how long it would take. Of one thing I was certain; I had to write well. That’s what has taken me so long. I can rough out a story pretty quickly, but turning it into something that is even reasonably well written, is incredibly difficult. I figured by the time I finished the five in the series, my writing would have improved to an acceptable level. So here I am, with my fingers crossed on the verge of releasing my story.

3. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

I chose to write for Young Adults because it’s a time in your life that sticks in your mind forever. It’s full of fun and adventure and frustrations, especially when your hands are tied by the mistakes of your parents. On a deeper level, the series is about accepting loss, whether it be losing a parent through divorce, or a loved one through death, and having to grow up before your time. Sometimes life sucks, but kids can always find some fun.

4. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

Writing a story is the same as reading a story, it’s quiet, it’s solitary, and it’s full of adventures in far away places. Some of it is hard, but for the most part, dreaming up stories and writing them down is loads of fun! I go through all of the emotions that a reader does – I laugh, I cry and sometimes I want to pull my hair out.

5. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

I don’t get affected by writers block. There are a few reasons for this but for the most part, I have a strategy. It’s pretty simple really, there are a million jobs for a writer to do, and another million if you’re a self-publisher like me, so if I’m not into one thing, I move onto the next, until I get bored with that and feel like getting back into the story. If I’m feeling down, I get into a sad scene. If I’m feeling pumped, I get right into a scene full of chaos or humour or whatever. I’m not the kind of writer who starts at the beginning and works my way through to the end. I rough it out in pieces, put it all together and then tidy it up. It calls for a lot of re-writing, which is mind-numbingly tedious, but that could be a good thing if that’s what I’m in the mood for. This way, a sad scene sounds authentic, giving the reader a chance to really feel the sadness and shed a tear, or vomit in disgust, or roll around in fits of laughter. That’s what I’m looking for, gut wrenching emotion.

6. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

If I were to be so bold as to offer some advice to another author, I would suggest getting out of your comfort zone to find inspiration. Whatever you do, don’t try to do another version of what’s already written. It’s boring and will drain your soul. Readers want new and exciting. The old adage, write about what you know, is definitely true. However, if you don’t know about it, learn about it, experience it, get right into it. Thank God for the internet and the great outdoors. Your fresh perspective and creative mind will always find a story in every situation, so get amongst it. I’m a hunter, through and through. I hunt with a fishing rod, I hunt deer with a rifle and I hunt for a good recipe. Urban Hunters is all about hunting, in all it’s forms, whether it be for food, a girlfriend or acceptance. I have always been intrigued by how Aborigines lived in the past, so I had a bit of an understanding of their life and culture. However, I didn’t know anywhere near enough to write about it. My story starts out with Billy living life as an Aborigine in the bush, before he makes his way into the city. So I had to do loads of research. Add to that my knowledge of hunting and campfire cooking, the frustrations of bad parenting, the mischief that boys can get up to, and you have a very authentic story, that’s different!

Urban Hunters blog page
Twitter @urban_hunters
Facebook Author Page
Facebook Book Page

An Interview with Michael Mandrake

2011-07-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

As Twitter revolutionizes communication in brief spurts, I have come to follow and be followed by tens of dozens of working authors of wildly different genres. Some are independent, self published authors, e-authors, and traditionally contracted authors. The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to bring this interview of Michael Mandrake.

"I love tension in my stories..."

1. Who are you?

Michael Mandrake: I’m a newly published author who just began writing for publication last year. I’m the gay male muse of author Sharita Lira who defers time to her other personalities, Rawiya and BLMorticia. Currently, I am contracted through 3 companies, XOXO publishing, Sizzler Intoxications an imprint of Renaissance books, and STARbooks. The latest short story, A Second Chance was released through XOXO and my novella, Binding Justice was published in the Bound for Romance anthology. I reside in Chicago with my significant other and 2 children.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

Michael Mandrake: In progress are a gay western contemporary tale called Taming Wild Horses, the sequel to my first book, The True Meaning of Love, a free read that will eventually be published called Mi Familia, my first gay mystery suspense called Closely Guarded, and my novel series, African Sun.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

Michael Mandrake: As far as releases, I’d say Binding Justice since I wrote about a topic I’m actually not too familiar with. Bondage or BDSM. I spent hours doing research on the web about the behaviors of D/s only to realize that the most enjoyable thing about the piece was my Dom’s inexperience. In the sequel which will be its own book, I plan to delve a little deeper into the BDSM world.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

Michael Mandrake: I prefer to write gay male erotica romance because there are more unique challenges that a gay male couple has to face. Since I love tension in my stories, this intrigues me a lot more than hetero. The attraction of manlove is a factor as well.

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

Michael Mandrake: Sitting at a work desk with a can of Coca Cola and headphones most likely for hours. At times, I might tend to check my Twitter or Facebook.

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

Michael Mandrake: If I get stuck on a particular portion of a story, I’ll walk away from it first. Then later, go back through what I’ve written before continuing. It might just need changes or a complete scene might need deleting.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

Michael Mandrake: It really depends on the story and how many I have going at once. Right now, the other two muses and I have 8 going at once. So, at this stage, I would say it varies. Sometimes only a couple of weeks maybe a couple of months. I have betas that usually get back immediately but even after, I like to have one more set of eyes take a look before I send. I usually stay in the 10-30k range but once I start writing longer stories, it will increase.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

Michael Mandrake: Learn all you can, listen to your betas and editors, grow really thick skin, and never give up on your dreams.

Links:
The Literary Triad
Michael Mandrake
Rawiya
Twitter rawiyamikembl
Facebook AuthorSharitaLira
Goodreads

The following is for mature audiences (18+) only:
Its Raining Men Blog

A Jaundiced Eye Looks At Muses

2011-07-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

One of my guilty pleasures involves watching the BBC’s Oz and James’s (sic) Big Wine Adventure in which an insufferable artiste, Oz Clarke, goes on a road trip with a crashing bore, James May, to teach the latter the art of wine and wine making. Oz sneers at anything below $20 a bottle—the cheap stuff being an insufficient muse—and utters inanities to show how immersed he is in his knowledge:

"My dear girl, there are some things that just aren't done, such as drinking Dom Perignon '53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit. That's just as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs!"

Does it taste good, Oz? We never find out, but the snobbery presents itself as even the wine snobs themselves look at him with a jaundiced eye. Literary analysis is all well and fine, but if a novel is not an interesting read who cares who wrote it or how good it is supposed to be?

Snobbery surrounds wannabe-artistic people who speak of their muses to show how beyond pedestrian dabblers they are in creativity. I have always drawn great amusement hearing the clichéd story of a painter whose muse was a woman he captured incessantly on canvas, because anyone with a brain can see the artist found a clever way to increase his chances of scoring with a woman by pretending to need her for his creativity.

“I’m not feeling artistic; maybe if we…”

How about cutting the crap and being honest about what is a muse?

Assume for a second, a muse is really just allowing oneself to act, because—aside from the likes of Meg Ryan and Will Ferrell who always play the same role as before—actors have the capacity to inhabit the bodies of diverse characters and become them in order to tell a story. As writers, our muses involve putting on the meat suits of the people in our stories, releasing words from their heads into our trusty Macs, acting out plots, and producing literary magic for stabby editors to make bloody.

My muse is a character named Michael Ramsey, who takes on and exaggerates the fire of a dear cousin of mine, and proceeds to run wild across the pages of my work making me write his words. He comes with a face, that of Will Chalker, a dashing British fashion model who could not look more All-American if he tried. Chalker appears to be a genuinely decent guy, but Michael likes to get on his bad motor scooter and ride and with any luck Will would be amused at being the face of a badass.

Another of my muses is the use of pictures of which I gather literally dozens for characters, their things, and places so the invented world becomes a photo album I can live them through.

What readers must understand about a writing muse is that the written piece and the person writing it can be utterly divorced, burying forever the idiocy of saying writers must write what they have directly experienced in order to ring true. I swear I have never been a homicidal, corrupt televangelist hiding a porn career, but when readers experience Cain Brown, they first wonder who I based him on and, when hearing I created him, they recoil as if I had to be Cain Brown in order to write him. Not so!

Hannibal Lecter could not have written himself, but author Thomas Harris clearly had a great muse.

Find your muse. Get writing!

An Interview With Author Jeannie Hart

2011-07-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

In my journey as an editor/author, I have been given the gift of coming to know many working authors of wildly different genres scattered all over the world. Some are independent, self published authors, e-authors, and traditionally contracted authors. Bakersfield--and the Central Valley of the Golden State of California--has produced its share of strong voices and great writing. The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to bring this interview of Jeannie Hart, a writer from Bakersfield, California.

"You mean, you don't know who I am?"

1. Who are you?

You mean, you don't know who I am? My name is Jeannie Hart. I am an Office Manager and CAD drafter by profession. However; depending on the day, alternate titles like creative consultant, NY playwright, and world traveler describe my duties. Most know me as a literary activist in our community working with the Kern Library System to promote the literary arts. I've even stepped in as a workshop lecturer when needed, but I assure you only under duress.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

My love of writing produced a lot of work online for companies like Sony Playstation and Yahoo, you know, back in the day. Now though, I focus mainly on creative nonfiction and fiction. Portraits of Ireland, a creative nonfiction travel story, is slowly coming together even though the opening Arrival was published in March of 2011 for Amazing Travel Stories. Impotence, a one-act play, ran in New York off Broadway last March and is currently in production for film. My manuscript Road to Revolution, is out for query.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

Impotence is one of those pieces that confirms and validates me as a writer. It is also a reminder that when one door shuts you out to look for another. Originally rejected locally, I had a visceral instinct that my one-act resonated with a larger audience. To have it run in off Broadway in New York validated my inner voice as an author. When the performers contacted me for permission to produce it to film, I was floored. It confirmed that the stories I tell move people, what more can a writer ask.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

I seem to gravitate to character driven fiction. I love writing dystopian science fiction, as I am such a tech nerd and enjoy destroying hope, but the relationships within stories, that's really what it is all about, strong characters with quirks and personalities that fill pages with love or hate.

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

If you were to catch me at Starbucks during one of my regular writing days, boredom would abound. Headphones, Pandora, my laptop, and the occasional conversation with the regulars who float in and out during a writing session is what you'd see. At home, it is a whole other monster. I tend to write while in the shoes of my characters, literally. I subscribe to the philosophy of dressing for the job you want. While I don't take it as far as dressing up in character, I do find the act of changing shoes allows me a different mindset for writing.

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

It is a constant struggle to keep my inner child appeased; when he is full, writer's block does not happen. Yes, my inner child is a he, don't ask what that is about. The easiest fix for my writer's block is a change in location. Sometimes it is as easy as taking a pen and paper to the park, in other instances it involves a road trip. In either case, it involves a pen and paper. I have to disconnect from the electronic attachment with a cursor that blinks consistently reminding me there are no words on the paper. The organic nature of writing helps the creativity flow back into my soul thus defeating writer's block.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

That really depends. My manuscript Road to Revolution, started as a NaNoWriMo novel (National Novel Writing Month). I produced the first draft in thirty days. Four years later, it's almost done with edits. Whereas, something like Arrival I wrote within the fifteen-hour flight back from Ireland and it published a few days later.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

Find yourself an awesome reader. I can't tell you how many pieces can go from ordinary to extraordinary within a few comments from a reader worth their weight in literary gold. When you do find him or her, never let go. Also, become friends with an editor and learn from them. Do not fight their wisdom when you are starting out. They will make you a better writer.

Website: http://about.me/jeannie.hart/
Twitter: @surferartchick

An Interview With Author Kotanya Kimbrough

2011-07-19T08:46:00.000-07:00

1. Who are you?

My name is Kotanya Kimbrough. I am an elementary school teacher in Bakersfield, California. I developed a love of expressing myself with words when I was young but it was not until my late twenties that I began to really test myself with what to do with my gift.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

My first published work was in a poem in an anthology about fathers. I’ve created a comic book for children, The Poet, published by a small press, Pearl’s Book’em publisher. She has also published my poetry anthology, More than Just a Rhyme, for teachers to use in the classroom. I completed my first manuscript, Inevitable, in 2004, my second manuscript, Hand of God was completed and self-published in 2008. I have recently finished a Masters in Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in Creative writing. My thesis, Bound, is a novel that I will be sending queries out for soon. I am currently playing around with the idea of doing short novel series for an e-publishing project.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

I am proud of all my work for different reasons. My first manuscript is near and dear to me because it was the first. “Hand of God” was a major accomplish for me because it was the first completed manuscript that was written in a style that I am trying to perfect. It is dark and moody but still engaging.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

Interestingly enough, I have yet to define what my genre but I do have an aesthetic. I am a grand reader of romance, a curious reader of supernatural, a reluctant reader of biographies or autobiographies, a moody reader of mysteries, a rare of westerns, a veracious reader of erotica, an attentive reader of spiritual matters and a willing reader of all. However, my writing does not expand all these genres. My writing focuses on people in love, lust, and conflict. While what I write probably sits in the generic category of contemporary fiction the overarching theme is life and relationship.

5.If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

If you were to observe me in the process of writing you would see me sitting at my desk early in the morning with my television on in the background, and my cell phone, house phone, and pencil and paper in front of me. There is also a chance you may see me late night, with my television on in the background, my cell phone, house phone, and a glass of wine sitting in front of me. It really would depend on what I am writing.

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

Writer’s block sends me to my library, my kindle, or the bookstore. The best way to chip away at writer’s block for me is to read. Being inspired by other written work is key for me. When I read well-written work I want to emulate it and when I read horrible writing I want to fix it. Writer’s block also is a factor of rather I am in the midst of a project or starting a new one. The more pressure I have to finish my writer’s block is wrapped in a big bow of procrastination. If I am writing for myself creativity flows like the Nile River.

7. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

In regards to other writer’s the greatest gift you are given as a creator is to create. Do your best to be an original. Since there is nothing new under the son, don’t forego the opportunity to tell it from your perspective. If your perspective has been done before, then just do it that much better.

My works can be found on Amazon.com and my website is

www.kotanyakimbrough.com/

An Interview With Author Tim Ellis

2011-07-18T07:37:00.000-07:00

"...when you love what you’re doing you’ll do it without sleep, without pay, without food, and even when nobody asks you to..."

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

I’m retired now and able to write full time, but the journey to get here was a tortuous one, and began as a renegade youth who left school at 15 without any qualifications and even fewer prospects. After a number of dead-end jobs, I joined the Army for 22 years and learned many things including a bit of self-discipline. I then became a senior financial manager in a secondary school for ten years, during which time I completed two Masters degrees and a PhD. My final tour of duty was as Head of Behavioural Sciences–teaching Psychology and Sociology–in a secondary school for six years. Throughout the journey, I always promised myself that I would write fiction when I retired–and here I am living the dream. I nearly didn’t make it though, because I had a heart-attack in January 2009, but thankfully they kept me alive and made me bionic so now I’m gonna (sic) live forever!

 2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

I started learning to write and put pen to paper about four years ago, and since that time I’ve written two “historicals” about the rise of Genghis Khan (Warrior: Path of Destiny and Warrior: Scourge of the Steppe), a Young Adult Science Fiction novel (The Knowledge of Time: Second Civilization), a Young Adult Fantasy (Orc Quest: Prophecy), six Crime novels mainly about serial killers (Solomon’s Key, Jacob’s Ladder, Body 13, The Graves at Angel Brook, A Life for a Life, and The Wages of Sin). I am over half-way through The Flesh is Weak, the third book in the Parish & Richards series, but I have so many others waiting to be finished such as The Timekeeper’s Apprentice, The Skulls Beneath Eternity Wharf, The Footprints of the Dead…so many, and not enough time–not enough by half!

 3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

Readers seem to be taken by the Parish & Richards books – A Life for a Life and The Wages of Sin, but I had the most fun and enjoyment writing Orc Quest: Prophecy, which has hardly sold any. You have to give the readers what they want though, and that’s why I’m focusing on the third in the Parish & Richards series. Lord of the Rings, however, is probably my all-time favourite work of art and it is a work of art on a par with Rodin’s The Thinker or Van Gogh’s Sunflowers or Starry Night. I wanted Orc Quest to be an epic journey, and I made an Orc the main character, but there are so many fantastic characters in that book – I’m gonna have to write the sequel soon because I’ve left the three main characters up a creek without a paddle – Well, you asked!

 4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

Strangely enough, I love historical novels about Rome, Egypt, Troy–the classical period, and saw myself writing novels along those lines, but life leads you down twisty-turny paths and here I am writing about serial killers. I have a dark bottomless imagination, I can write in any genre, as you’ll see from my website. If I had to make a choice, it would be historical, but as the song goes, "You can’t always get what you want!"

 5.If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

I get up at 5 a.m. most days and set to until 7 a.m. when I have to feed my five Shih Tzus (Chinese lion dogs – a mum, dad, and their three pups), but I’m sitting in my brown leather armchair with my laptop in my lap writing most of the time. I get up now and again to do essential things like shower, eat, walk the dogs, DIY, but then I’m back in my chair writing. I don’t usually close my laptop down until 10 p.m.

 6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

Writer’s block is not something I suffer from. Idleness sometimes grabs me, and I’ll edit, read, write something new, make lists, modify my website – I’m always doing something connected to writing.

 7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

I work on the basis of 1,000+ words a day, 30,000 a month, a completed 90,000-word novel in three months and then a couple of weeks to edit. I edit as I go along, so the final edit is minimal. I’m a hard taskmaster, but when you love what you’re doing you’ll do it without sleep, without pay, without food, and even when nobody asks you to.

 8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

I wish I’d started writing years ago. With 20/20 hindsight I should have done, but doesn’t life always get in the way? If you want to write–just do it. The sooner you start – the sooner you crack the code. If you wait until there’s a breathing space you might not make it, and then the world will be that much less.

Links:

Website:http://timellis.weebly.com/

Blog:http://timellis.weebly.com/blog.html

Orc Quest: http://orcquest.weebly.com/

Twitter: @timellis13

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/gkmFQ7

Amazon US:http://amzn.to/hINIUu

Editing: Let’s Get Stabby

2011-07-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

With tongue slightly in cheek...

...all errors not caught before publication will be ten times more painful after the fact...

Warning! Rough road ahead.

Being a writer is hard work for big boys and girls and not for poseurs wanting to be creative souls and artists expecting kinder, gentler, non-judgmental, dysfunctional, self-esteemicist (sic) commentary from their editors.

Being an editor does not mean I fix everything because it is the writer’s job to deliver a deeply revised, thoroughly sorted-out manuscript (that has gone through at least one round of beta readers) with MINIMAL mechanical errors. Consider editing to be tough love and welcome it.

All of the following (see below) should be fixed prior to beta readers, but certainly prior to sending manuscripts to editors. I would love to take more money and fix everything, but then the manuscript would be my work with someone else taking credit. I ain’t your ghost writer, baby!

So here goes…

#1 Prologues…Dear Lord, Why?

This represents a personal bias, but one shared by many. The use of a prologue says one of two laughably bad things about an author's work.

If the piece has so much jargonspeak (sic) or alternate reality the author feels the need to explain things ahead of time to the reader, he fails composition task number one and taking the lazy way out with a prologue does not save the day. If narration does not produce appropriate comprehension, the writing is flawed.

The second purpose of a prologue involves revealing the plot. The worst example of this idiocy is Romeo and Juliet where the plot and two-hour length of the play is revealed in two minutes. So, Billy Shakespeare, tell me why I should sit through the play?

Come on, Lee, many writers use prologues, so they must be OK. Millions of flies like cow plop too. Move accordingly.

#2 Kill Passive Voice In Narration

Using passive constructions (is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, will be, has, have, had) makes narration deadly boring and sharply curtails the grade-level equivalent of the text.

Use actions.

By the way “is walking” is NOT an active construction, contrary to the musing of some self-professed writing experts. Active voice means using an action, by itself, as a verb.

#3 Kill Telling Writing

Do not tell your reader information (She looked nice.). Show it through detail (Her black cocktail dress clung to her hips as she walked away from me.).

#4 Do NOT Trip Over Sensory Detail

Just as there are writers who know nothing of sensory detail, there are those who include so much of it the characters and the plot drown in the middle of their sensory-detail masturbation. Believe me! I could share samples of craptastica, but getting sued is not my cup of meat.

#5 Fragments In Narration

Fragments, “sentences” without a subject/verb pair expressing a complete thought, or dependent clauses masquerading as sentences, make writers who use them for style look illiterate. There are four sentence types: simple, compound, complex, compound-complex. Google them. Use them correctly. Fragments in dialog make perfect sense.

#6 Research

The accuracy of what a writer presents must be factually sound. I like specific specificity (sic). Do not tell me the Aston Martin was satin green. Look up the correct shade for the model and year. Anything less is lazy. (Hint: British racing green!) As an editor, I will not check a writer’s research, but if a writer's facts are not correct and a reader catches it, the entire piece is then in question for its quality.

#7 Present-Tense "Past" Narration

Shifting narration to present tense may dramatically improve a story. In narration, the present tense is assumed to be the past in the reader’s mind (As Washington crosses the Delaware, he wonders about…). If the author narrates a moment in past tense, how does he portray something happening prior to it? Awkward. Speaking about the future when narrating in past tense is impossible. Remember, however, readers naturally assume a past and a future exist to the current moment in the plot. Something to consider.

#8 Very

Delete the word “very” 100% of the time. “Very” adds no meaning. It might have been emphatic once, but not anymore.

#9 That

Delete 9 out of 10 occurrences of “that” because writers use it when they do not know how to use proper punctuation or gerund constructions.

#10 Then

“Then” is a sequencing word overused to the point of tedium. Delete whenever possible (90%).

#11 Just

Delete as many as possible. My stricter rule is to use “just” only when it means “fair” or “legitimate” and to avoid using an overused word.

#12 Contractions In Narration

Some writers think contractions in narration are stylistic and ok, but hey are wrong. Contractions in narration drag down the literary quality and make the writer look vapid and inappropriately chatty. Contractions in dialog make perfect sense.

#13 Coordinating Conjunctions to Start Sentences

Using coordinating conjunctions (and, but, or, so) at the start of sentences is not OK and NOT clever style. Coordinating conjunctions COORDINATE therefore must be between two independent clauses. Of course if you want your narration to have the insipid quality of an illiterate seventh grader, be my guest.

#14 Drop the “S”

The word is “toward” and does not have an alternate correct spelling in formal English anywhere on the planet. Remember narration is formal English and dialog is informal English.

“Towards” has never been correct formal American Standard English. “Towards” used to be correct formal British Standard English, but the Brits dropped the “s” more than a decade ago.

If writers want to look ignorantly conversational, they should use “towards” when they write. The same is true for: forward, onward, backward, or anything ending similarly.

#15 Font

Times New Roman or Arial are the acceptable fonts. Make it 12 point too. Double-space the manuscript with 1-inch margins. Some places want left justification and others want full justification. Submit exactly as required. Note that the "normal" template in Microsoft Word adds an extra half space between paragraphs. NOT ACCEPTABLE!

Is that all? Hardly! Get working and deliver your editor a quality piece. Remember all errors not caught before publication will be ten times more painful after the fact.

An Interview With Stephen England

2011-07-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

As Twitter revolutionizes communication in brief spurts, I have come to follow and be followed by tens of dozens of working authors of wildly different genres. Some are independent, self published authors, e-authors, and traditionally contracted authors. The Salton Sea Chronicles is pleased to bring this interview of Stephen England.

"Read what you want to write. Read it incessantly."

Sword of Neamha

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

My name’s Stephen England. I’m 21 years of age. Most of my life has been spent in rural northeastern Maryland, the son of a pastor. I’m a committed Christian and I’ve been writing for the better part of eight years. Yeah, you do the math—I started early.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

My first novel, in December of 2009, was a Celtic adventure story entitled Sword of Neamha. Sword is set in the British Isles roughly two thousand years ago. My newest release, Pandora’s Grave, is a counter-terrorism thriller set a couple years in the future, the debut novel of the Shadow Warriors series. The connecting thread between such divergent works? They’re both stories of heroism, of desperate men who must fight to preserve their society, their way of life, and the lives of those they love. They’re really not all that different—human nature hasn’t changed a wit in two millennia. My WIP, Day of Reckoning, is a direct sequel to Grave, taking place less than two months after those pivotal events.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

That’s an awful lot like asking which of your children do you love the most! I can’t really choose between them. Sword is a sweeping saga of love, honor, and betrayal. Grave is a pulse-pounding and all-too-plausible thrill ride written in a format reminiscent of 24. I think readers will find Grave the more apparently “relevant” read, centering as it does upon the current and very real danger of an Iranian attack upon the state of Israel.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

Counter-terrorism thrillers will always be my first passion. I, as so many Americans, will never forget September 11th, 2001. I will never forget how it felt to watch those towers fall, how it felt to weep in impotent rage at those who struck us that day. Those memories formed a great deal of the motivation for Grave, and they’ll always be with me. They formed the genesis for the character of Thomas Parker, a Clandestine Service sniper in Grave. Parker had never fired a gun in his life before 9/11. He was the manager of a Wall Street investment firm, not a warrior. And then the towers fell.

That said, historical fiction offers a unique opportunity for a writer. The ability to transport the reader to a different time, with the accompanying differences in social mores, is something I’ve always found fascinating. But no matter the genre—my writing will always be character-centric. Great characters can carry and sell a mediocre plot—but a great plot can never survive poorly-drawn characters.
5.If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

Not a great deal, actually. Picture a guy looking at a computer screen and you’ve got it. You’d be better off watching me research. That runs the gamut from searching through archival footage of a mosque in Jerusalem to standing on the firing range with a .45.

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

Typically it’s time to spend some time reading and immersing myself once more in my genre, whether that’s other writers like Vince Flynn or Tom Clancy—or TV shows like 24 and the BBC’s MI-5. It’s my experience that if all you do is look at your own writing, you become stale very quickly. That’s the fastest path to writer’s block there is.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

Is there a factory around where you get these hardball questions? Seriously, though, it’s difficult to say. Sword of Neamha was arguably my fastest write ever, about 8-9 months. Now it took another year and a half before I decided to publish it. Harry Nichols, the lead character of the Shadow Warriors series, has been in the pipeline almost ever since I started writing. It’s just taken me eight years and five discarded manuscripts to get him to the point where I felt I had something worthy of publication. There’s a reason why I don’t like hearing that self-published authors have no filter—I’ve thrown away close to 70% of everything I’ve ever written.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

Be very careful about taking advice—including this. And I’m not joking. I have never belonged to a writer’s critique group and at the moment, I don’t have any intention of joining one. A lot of good people belong to them—good for them. My experience is that once you belong to a critique group you start writing for what will get positive comments at the next meeting, not your target audience.

My advice: Read what you want to write. Read it incessantly. Read it obsessively. And then go write. Odds are, your first couple manuscripts will be mighty close to plagiarism, but that’s okay. Just burn them and move on—you’ll find your voice. And by the time you’ve found your voice, you’ll also have a target audience locked firmly in your gunsights. I said it in a tweet the other day: Read your genre, watch your genre until you know all the rules. Then break them.
Thanks for inviting me on your blog, Lee. It’s been fun talking with you.

(YOU did me the service. Thanks!)

PLEASE support the author! Visit the smashwords.com link below!

Sword of Neamha

blog

www.stephenwrites.com

An Interview with Faith Mortimer

2011-07-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

Doctors can’t take a day off because "they have run out of steam" and nor should I.

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

Good morning Lee. May I take this opportunity to thank you for interviewing me. I am delighted to feature on your splendid website and I must say I take good interest in your other articles. Lots of interesting views and news to share! (Thanks, Faith!)

Briefly, I am Faith Mortimer, and I live in an old stone-house in the foothills of the Troodos Mountains on Cyprus. A beautiful Mediterranean island and known as Aphrodite’s own. I originally come from England. I began writing seriously around 2000, when I had completed a degree in Biology. I realised that I had found new dedication, stamina and confidence to finally finish my first novel. Before then I had qualified as a Registered nurse(in my twenties) and latterly run my own business from home. I am a qualified Yachtmaster and before we settled in Cyprus, my husband and I explored the seas from as far north as New York down the coast to the Caribbean and Venezuela and then back across the Atlantic into the Mediterranean where we finished our travels in Turkey – a fantastic eight years living on our sailing yacht – just the right place to write books!

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

I have three published books and another is a work in progress, plus I’m working on a short story collection. My books are, The Crossing, The Assassins’ Village (a Diana Rivers mystery novel) and The Bamboo mirror; released last week as a TRUE short ghost story. The Crossing was my first novel and crosses many genres: action and adventure, romance, wartime hero, family saga and a rite of passage. The Assassins’ Village is a mystery thriller set in Cyprus and written in an Agatha Christie-like style. The Bamboo Mirror is a true story that occurred when I attended boarding school in Singapore – very chilling indeed!

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

Difficult to be absolutely clear which one I’m most proud of, but it is probably The Crossing. This was my first real attempt at completing a full-length novel. I got the idea from a friend, when he was telling me about his late father’s exploits during World War Two. His life was so fascinating that I believed there was a story to record on paper. After obtaining his permission I started researching the WW2 archives and I became deeply entrenched in what I was doing. I loved the research and after that the story just flowed. It is a big book at 130,000 words and I’m sure it could do with a bit of an edit – but the book is ME, it’s how I wrote it, and besides it’s a cracking good story as the Amazon reviews will show you!

I love The Assassins’ Village, which is entirely different from The Crossing. I’m proud of this for different reasons, mostly because it was my first attempt at writing a mystery thriller with masses of clues, red herring and loads of baddies! So far NO ONE has guessed who the murderer is until I tell them on the final page.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

For the moment I have no firm favourite genre. I am swinging towards stories with at least some hint of mystery in them, and my latest work in progress will have at least one murder in it! This book is entitled Children of the Plantation and is set in 1950s and 1960s Malaya. I was brought up there as a child and still love the country. I particularly enjoy books that are set in exotic places so you’ll find all of my own novels are too.

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

That’s a scary question! When I begin to write I always make my first draft in longhand on numerous writing-pads, using a favourite pen. I work outside under cover in a stone-courtyard at a big scrubbed pine-table with at least one of my cats for company. I write as much as I can and then when I feel I’ve done enough for the day I leave the script ready to carry on with next time. I always try to ensure that there is more to be written down immediately I begin again. When I transpose my work onto my PC I treat this as my first edit – one of many!

6. When you get writer s block, how do you respond?

I haven’t suffered too much from this if at all. As I have already said, I try and leave the previous day’s work in a positive position. This means that I can sit down and begin immediately from where I left off. If I come to a halt I go and make coffee, get a meal ready or go for a walk. A soak in the hot tub works wonders too. I have just stopped running due to an injury and over the years this has kept my head clear. I would say be positive with yourself. Doctors can’t take a day off because ‘they have run out of steam’ and nor should I.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

I think it depends on the material and the type of work. My first book took two years before I found a publisher and The Assassins’ Village about eighteen months. The short story took a couple of days. I’m hoping that my third novel will be ready for publishing in less than six months – fingers crossed!

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

I would like to tell other authors that you’re never alone in your work. The actual writing is a lonely business, but with today’s technology at our fingertips there’s always someone out there who is willing to give help and advice when you’re looking for inspiration and just need a little friendly chat. I’ve made hundreds of friends on Facebook, Twitter and from followers on my website. Some are amazing and we share loads of news and often trade ideas.

Don’t ever feel you are alone - there is no need to be. And don’t ever, ever give up! If you feel a deep yearning inside then you are going to get that first book written. Good luck and remember I’m always there with a willing and ready ear. If you would like to connect with me feel free to join me on:
Facebook FaithMortimer.Author

Twitter @FaithMortimer

My website faithmortimerauthor.com

To Purchase:

The Assassins’ Village Amazon.co.uk

The Assassins’ Village Amazon.com

The Crossing Amazon.co.uk

The Crossing Amazon.com

The Bamboo Mirror is also available on Amazon, and all books are on Smashwords. The Crossing is also available in paperback and in about a week you will be able to buy a paperback version of The Assassins’ Village on Amazon.

An Interview With Carolyn Arnold

2011-07-03T06:53:00.000-07:00

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

As a teenager, I used to write novellas and poetry while dreaming of finishing a full-length novel. In fact, I was serious enough that I had requested the submission guidelines from Harlequin. But things in life changed and it wasn’t until four years ago that happenchance reunited me with the love of the written word, and I finished my first full-length novel. Since then, I have written seven in various genres.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

Recently, I published my mystery novel TIES THAT BIND, the first in a series surrounding Major Crimes Detective Madison Knight. Two others in the series will be released in December 2011 and Spring 2012.

Presently, I’m working on edits for my thriller ELEVEN which is slated for release 11/11/11.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

This is a hard question for a writer, in my opinion. Normally, after I finish a first draft the elation that comes with that places me on a high that tells me that was my best book yet. And really, every book is unique to itself – the feel, the voice, the characters – and that makes it hard to choose one.

But, if I were to pick one novel, I would have to say TIES THAT BIND for the reason that it has been refined to the point of publication. I am proud of how far it has come and of the final product that it is today.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

Mysteries, thrillers and suspense. For me, there usually has to be a body. I like a book that intrigues, makes my heart race, and makes me think. Maybe it’s because my life is relatively peaceful, but inside I’m a conflict junkie?

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

Eyes fixed on the laptop screen with no regard for what’s going on around me, and the odd hand gesture that would make one wonder if I was playing a game of charades.

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

Honestly, I don’t believe in “writer’s block” as some people refer to it as the reason why they can’t write. I believe that sometimes one can have a lot going on in their life which makes it difficult to release the logical thought process to make room for the creative. If that’s the case then I make the concession that can occur, but I’ve never had it happen during the writing of a book. I had it happen before I started my first thriller, but it was only because I had pegged the main character wrong. When I realized he wasn’t who I had planned, things moved ahead quickly. In fact, this book was written for NaNoWri in 2010 and came in as my longest novel to date.

I learned from this - don't give up on writing a novel when it seems the voices have gone silent. Try to give them space, and let them come to you. Sometimes our minds need a break. And first and foremost, don't force characters into a mold you've created. What makes them great is letting them flourish, and have a life of their own.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

It depends. For the most part, I write “panster-style” meaning without an outline. My first novel took one year to finish the first draft. At this point, I know I can write a book in less than two months.

As far as my published work TIES THAT BIND, it took two years to get it to this point. Of course, my focus wasn’t dedicated full-time on edits during the two years as I wrote five other novels. I don’t have near that timeline for my upcoming novel releases the end of the year. So I must focus.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

Keep writing, and reach out to other writers. Get online, Twitter, Facebook, join author forums, and maybe start a blog. By taking advantage of this network, in balance, it will fuel your writing and give you the encouragement to keep writing.

Connect with Carolyn Arnold online:

Facebook

TWITTER

Goodreads

Blog

Website

To purchase Carolyn's work:

Paperback - Amazon US

Paperback - Amazon Canada

Amazon Kindle US

Amazon Kindle UK

Smashwords

An Interview with Melanie Comley

2011-07-02T09:35:00.000-07:00

Impeding Justice

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

Hi I’m Mel Comley, I’m a Brit living in France. I retired early to fulfill my lifetime ambition to become an author.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

Currently I have two gritty thrillers available as ebooks, a TRUE short story and a collection of short stories.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

Each novel I write I’m extremely proud of. Recently I’ve finished my third thriller ‘Cruel Justice’ in the Lorne Simpkins series. The feedback so far, from a few lucky fans I’ve sent it to, has been sensational. I’m unable to release it as an ebook at the moment as my agent is hoping to place it with a traditional publisher.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

I prefer to read and write thrillers, I love to feel the adrenaline rush. I picked up an Alex Cross novel by James Patterson about six years ago and decided to try and emulate him and his success. ;-)

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

Someone who sits at their computer for 10-12 hours a day and no I don’t have a bucket beside me for emergencies, I do take pit-stops now and then. I think I’m dedicated to my chosen career, the cobwebs in the corner will testify to that. ;-)

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

I used to suffer from it all the time when I first started writing, but I have to confess it rarely happens now. The best solution I’ve found is to make sure you leave your writing, in the middle of an exciting part, so it’s easy to pick up the following day. I’d also like to add, that it’s important you write SOMETHING every day. Your brain is a large muscle that needs regular exercise.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

It depends, initially I’d say that novels would take 12-18 months to write but I think the more you write and enjoy the process it gets quicker and easier to slot into place.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

Only that if you have a dream then go for it. If you’ve got imagination and flair don’t let anyone stand in your way of achieving your goals.

BUY Impeding Justice here

ebook Impeding Justice

Final Justice

Cancer

2011-07-01T20:31:00.000-07:00

Mildly edited for a wider audience.

I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black...

Sunday, September 2nd 1984
1:07 pm
Desert Shores, California

Cancer eats at its victims from the inside, but, once one accepts his terminality, there comes a giddy moment where death’s ensured embrace compels the crazy, doomed man to live his life, make amends, or in my case settle scores even if it hastens my own demise. I reach behind me to retrieve an electronic device.

She sits next to me in the Sting Ray waiting as I prepare my next kill.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Nick?”

“I am.”

Demons live by the concept of lex talionis. Our code demands a retribution matching the offense suffered or, quite often, a bit more than necessary to strike terror in souls to make them submit rather than have to make a conquest by force every time. Yes, Michael and I bitched at each other, but we had each other. Even when we had nothing to say, we could still talk. Yes, on some level we hated each other, but we loved each other more. If anything, I always believed Michael was afraid to embrace his brother, the sinner. Yes, we even became enemies in opposite camps in this blood war, but no amount of retribution will satisfy the loss of my twin at the hands of demons. They will f-ing pay!

“With Alastor and Abaddon out of the way, more must fall,” I say. “There can be no rest until all perish.”

“Your need for overkill will cause problems, Nick. You’re so much like Michael.”

“Dee, I have to do this for him and me.”

“As you wish.”

At the time, I did not realize a guardian angel came to me as I walked along Highway 95 near the California-Arizona border three years ago, but I recognized Dee instantly when she arrived as the forensics technician from the Sheriff’s office at Abaddon’s murder. She took care not to acknowledge me, but the coincidence of her presence made what she was obvious to me.

“How long have they been in there?” she asks as I turn the radio transmitter on.

“Probably long enough to know they’ve been set up,” I say flipping the toggle switch sending Alastor’s tin-shack dwelling into a concussive explosion of glass shards, splinters, and detritus.

“Very nice,” I smile surveying my work as splinters of aluminum siding rain down on the Corvette making ticking noises against the fiberglass.

An Interview with Rick R. Reed

2011-07-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

That’s a rather deep, philosophical question with which to begin an interview, isn’t it? I am many things: a human being, a man, a father, a partner, a lover, a cheese-adorer, a foodie and avid amateur chef, a runner, a walker, a weight-lifter, a reader, a writer, a keen observer of the human condition, a movie fan, a theater buff, a lapsed Catholic, an agnostic in search of spirituality, a college graduate, a communications consultant, a copywriter, an editor, an omnivore, a driver, a passenger, a homosexual, a son, a brother, a friend…oh dear, the list could go on forever, just about. I am not a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, although some of my best friends are.

My standard writer bio reads something like this: Rick R. Reed is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a two-time EPIC eBook Award winner. His work has caught the attention of Unzipped magazine, “The Stephen King of gay horror,”; Lambda Literary, “A writer that doesn’t disappoint,”; and Dark Scribe magazine, “an established brand - perhaps the most reliable contemporary author for thrillers that cross over between the gay fiction market and speculative fiction.” He lives in Seattle. Visit him on the web at:
http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com
www.rickreed.com

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

Oh gee, I have a few books in print (approaching twenty) and about double that number when you count in digital publications. I just completed a new novel, based on my experiences as an AIDS buddy in the early 90s, called Caregiver. Here’s the synopsis:

Dan Calzolaio has a new buddy and it’s not one he got through work, or school, or the usual places where one makes friends. No, Dan’s new buddy is Adam Schmidt and he comes to Dan courtesy of the Tampa AIDS Alliance, where Dan has volunteered to help people with AIDS.

It’s 1991 and Dan has just moved to Florida with his lover, Mark. The pair has fled Chicago and Mark’s addictions to begin a new life on the Gulf Coast. Volunteering for the Tampa AIDS Alliance is just one part of that new beginning.

Adam Schmidt is not at all what Dan expected when he signed up to be an AIDS buddy. The guy is an original—witty, wry, sarcastic, and with a fondness for a smart little black dress, Barbra Streisand, and a good Mai Tai. Adam’s doesn’t let his frailness and imminent death get him down. Dan’s relationship with him, through a downward spiral that includes time spent in the Florida State Prison, teaches Dan new lessons about strength and resiliency.

Adam also had a lover, Sullivan, for whom Dan feels an almost irresistible pull. Dan knows the attraction isn’t right, even when Dan dumps his cheating, drug-abusing lover, but when Adam leaves both Sullivan and Dan, can these two survivors turn their love for Adam into something whole and real?

Caregiver is a heart-wrenching love story that explores what it truly means to care for another human being and how adversity and tragic loss can bring two souls together.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

That’s always a hard question to answer because I love all of my work, often for very different reasons. I love IM and IN THE BLOOD because of their scariness and suspense; DEADLY VISION because of its paranormal element and its portrayal of an ordinary single mom in extraordinary circumstances; ORIENTATION because of how it deals with the nature of love; TRICKS because of its opposite-attract, stripper-bar seedy allure; THE BLUE MOON CAFÉ because I feel it’s one of my most successful marriages of romance and horror. But, again, I am proud of all my work; I wouldn’t put it out there if I didn’t.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

I write about characters and what happens to them. Characters come first—and it’s only my twisted mindset that often finds them in precarious, frightening situations, the most horrifying of which is, often, falling in love.

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

You’d see me sitting naked at my desk with a faraway expression in my eyes and my fingers moving rapidly over my…keyboard.

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

I do not believe in writer’s block. Never have. I think it’s for whiners and procrastinators. It’s an easy out. I won’t indulge myself that way.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

It depends on the work; for a full-length novel, I would say I average 4-6 months, less than that for shorter stuff like short stories and novellas. I generally write about 1000 words a day.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

Read a lot. Write a lot. Believe in yourself.

How about supporting the author by visiting Amazon.com and reading something out of the ordinary?

Rick R. Reed's Amazon.com page

A Conversation With Author Jeremy Rodden

2011-06-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

1. Who are you (i.e. brief bio)?

I spent the first ten years of my professional life in retail sales, working my way up to store management positions in two different Fortune 500 retailers. Along the way, I managed to earn a BA in Religion and English Writing from La Salle University in Philadelphia, PA and an MA in Secondary Education from Holy Family University, also in Philadelphia.

After completing my Masters, I began teaching high school English. When my second son was born in May, 2010, however, my wife and I decided that it would be more prudent for me to be a stay-at-home dad, taking care of the new baby along with my first son, who was born in June, 2005. I have since had the challenge and pleasure of being a homemaker.

It was at this time that I finally grasped the stories that had been in my head since I was a teenager and wrangled them to paper. Toonopolis began as a silly interactive fiction game played with some real life and virtual friends. The game only lasted a few years but the world I had created and my characters never escaped my thoughts.

As a writer, I consider C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll as my strongest influences. They were able to create magical worlds that readers of all ages enjoy, which is exactly what I want to achieve with Toonopolis. It is a lofty goal, indeed, but the only goals that will invariably be unachievable are the ones that are not set.

2. What are some of your publications or works in progress?

My first novel was published May 30th, 2011 and is entitled Toonopolis: Gemini. It is a full-length contemporary fantasy novel targeted to middle grade/young adult with crossover appeal.

I am currently working on the sequel, Toonopolis: Chi Lin, which is Book 2 in the Toonopolis Files series. I have one more novel planned as well as several short stories about some of the secondary and tertiary characters that are seen throughout the books.

3. Is there one of which you are most proud? Why?

Gemini is my pride and joy, as it introduces my unique cartoon world and lays the foundation for a ton of sequels, spinoffs, and multimedia adaptations. This could change over time, however, as my first three books (Gemini, Chi Lin, and Zephyr) all have different main characters and may grow on my differently.

4. Which genre/style do you prefer and what attracted you to it?

I like humorous fantasy. I like to write what I like to read. I enjoy Lewis Carroll, Eoin Colfer, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaimain, and others. I like the escapism of fantasy but I also love to laugh.

5. If we were to observe you in the act of writing, what would we see?

That depends on where I find the time to write. My primary responsibilities right now are as a stay at home dad to my six year old and one year old sons. Sometimes I'll be on my iPad at the park. Sometimes I'm jotting notes in my old copybook. Ideally? I'll be on my couch with my laptop, with music playing, and my kids asleep or at school.

6. When you get writer’s block, how do you respond?

MOVE ON! I operate under the "finish the first draft" mentality. If I don't like how something is going or a chapter (I struggled with one chapter on Toonopolis: Gemini that was only about 4 pages long in the first draft), I just write what I know and move the story along. It is easier to fill in gaps on a later draft than it is to stare at a blank screen for hours.

I have never experienced a complete block of not knowing where I want the story to go. I don't know how one could think they can sit down and start writing a story if they don't know where they want it to go. Even if you know only the beginning and the end, you can sort out the middle along the way.

7. From the inception of writing to publishable work, typically how long do you spend?

Toonopolis: Gemini took me nine months. I spent about two months on the first draft, about three-four months on subsequent drafts, and about three months working on publishing concepts (including forming my own publishing company, Portmanteau Press LLC). I had to learn a lot about formatting and such that I don't need to relearn, so I think six months is a reasonable timeline for me to complete my upcoming novels.

8. Is there any advice you would like to share with other authors?

There is a great anecdote about Sinclair Lewis, the famous author, who had been invited to speak at Columbia University to a group of writing students. He asked all of the students, "How many of you here are really serious about being writers?" As the hands shot up, Lewis added strongly, "Well then, why the hell aren't you all home writing?" and sat down.

To be good at anything takes time and repetition. Skill and talent are important, but hard work has to be added to it. Professional athletes are amazingly talented but they work very hard to be the best that they can be. There are tons of stories about phenomenal athletes who couldn't make it because they weren't willing to add a strong work ethic to their talent. The same goes for writing.

-Jeremy Rodden
Author of the Toonopolis Files: www.toonopolis.com
Facebook Fanpage: www.facebook.com/toonopolisfiles/
On Twitter: @toonopolis

Toonopolis: Gemini, bestselling fantasy novel on Smashwords, now available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, and eBook: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050P3YXA/

Axe

2011-06-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

the following is protected by copyright

rivulets of blood issued from his body

Sunday, September 2nd 1984
9:49 am
Mecca, California

In plain sight, I hide from the demons swarming around Abaddon’s kill like Africanized bees wanting to devour evidence from the corpse with the hope of unleashing stinging retribution on the assassin. Black and white police cruisers driven by angels, demons, and human officers of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol clog the vestigial parking lot of the church. Spectators, most of them human, look upon wanting gossip as they weather the hundred-and-one-degree temperature. I lean against the Sting Ray, unbutton the collar of my shirt and light a cigarette.

This morning I may have eclipsed my brother when it comes to wielding theatrics as a weapon. Abaddon either did not hear me approaching from behind or he chose to play the alpha male in our demonic territorial-pissing contest and make me wait for his countenance. I suspect the latter, which is why swinging the axe came so unseen

After the gentle priest’s head tumbled to the floor and rivulets of blood issued from his body as he fell on his chest, I planted the axe head squarely in his back for the sake of absurd redundancy. I mean, come on, leaving the guy’s noggin two feet from the rest of his body and burying the axe in him smacks of overkill, but we Ramseys like to step beyond!

Crown of Thorns

2011-06-22T09:29:00.000-07:00

Ana had no idea

Sunday, September 2nd 1984
5:38 am
Mecca, California

The love of God was not supposed to be like this.

Sitting in the last pew of the Crown of Thorns Catholic Church in the silence of predawn, a tear traces Sister Anastasia’s cheek because she anticipates the threat of Sunday mornings, with its attendant ritual, and wishes God actually loved her enough to deliver her from it. She has given up on Him and wonders, in fact, if He actually exists or whether He in an invention of Satan to lead people astray.

Religious life has come with many sacrifices, so few of which are aimed at piety and from what she has seen the supposedly religious around her are quite evil.
Eighteen years ago, Ana was a runaway at a bus station in Indio without friends, shelter, nor any protection. For twelve hours she fended off men wanting to bribe her for sex and others wanting to make her Indio Boulevard’s newest prostitute. She prayed for someone to come to help her while cowering in a corner.

A boy her age, showing her kindness, bought her a sandwich and held her tightly as a desert thundershower broke out shaking the building and flooding the streets. He was her first glimpse of love in a hateful place, she thought. He was strong and protective and three hours of talk won her trust. She needed sleep and he knew how to break into a storage room where they could rest. Ana had no idea the boy about to rape her was a demon.

He seemed, instead, an angel with his tall slim physique, blond hair, and blue eyes. Only the taint of cigarette smoke marred his perfection...

As Vultures Circle

2011-06-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Excerpt is lightly edited to appeal to a wider audience.

Am I to be sliced to appease the violence of angels?

My reality shifts in a strange Twilight Zone moment where suddenly nothing is as it was, or is it a Hitchcock flash where the horizon line skews? How soon are angels coming to get me for killing Kamal? Should I beg forgiveness to their God or be slaughtered for defiance of Lucifer? I feel falling-to-the-floor dizzy. Bracing my hands against the tiled wall of the shower, I sense its coldness with the memory of my demon conversion coming back over me.

“I’m here,” Michael reassures me.

“God…” I begin, for reasons I cannot comprehend, but cut my words off sharp.

My intestines contort suddenly wanting to purge their contents, but constricting my sphincter to hold it in, I dash to the toilet where convulsive pain rapes me as a gush of water and solids leave my body.

My prayer—should I be weak enough to attempt another one—would fall on the unsympathetic ears of heartless angels whose guardianship I never had in the first place. I flush the toilet of their treachery and return to the shower the unpardonable enemy to both sides in the showdown of light and goodness.

I close my eyes hoping this too will pass, but I feel the tip of a blade trace my chest. A hand comes to rest on my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I glance down to see the four-edged knife blade demons use to kill one of their own. Am I to be sliced to appease the violence of angels? When he died, Michael compelled the demons to kill him. My brother was brave. Unfortunately, it seems I am to die by friendly fire. How can I not submit given the crap storm I have flung, but why must I go to my ruin knowing Michael suffered the better death?

“Forgive me Prince of Darkness!” I whisper against the roar of the shower. “To the one I serve, let me give honor. I live to think of death and to expose the darkness hidden.”

The hand reassuringly clutches my shoulder with a firm grasp. Michael fills my meat suit ready for battle. That ballsy son of a gun is going for it!

“You are well met, Dominic!” an unseen voice says causing my skin to goose bump.

My thoughts travel to a black chamber illuminated only by a candle where I am the initiate standing naked before a table on which I will lay myself offering my body as sacrifice.

In Writing, Size Matters

2011-06-18T18:37:00.000-07:00

The following is a repost

ARTICLE LINK

How Long Should Your Story Be?
by Lee Masterson

© Copyright Lee Masterson. All Rights Reserved.

One common question asked by many writers is: "How long should my story be?"

The simplest answer is: As long as it takes to tell the whole story.

However, there are certain word lengths that editors prefer to see when submitting work.

Here is an approximate guideline for story lengths.

Micro-Fiction

up to 100 words

This very abbreviated story is often difficult to write, and even harder to write well, but the markets for micro fiction are becoming increasingly popular in recent times. Publishers love them, as they take up almost no room and don't cost them their budgets. Pay rates are often low, but for so few words, the rate per word averages quite high.

Flash Fiction

100 - 1,000 words

This is the type of short-short story you would expect to find in a glossy magazine, often used to fill one page of quick romance (or quick humor, in men's mags) Very popular, quick and easy to write, and easier to sell!

Short Story

1,000 - 7,500 words

The 'regular' short story, usually found in periodicals or anthology collections. Most 'genre' zines will features works at this length.

Novellette

7,500 - 20,000 words

Often a novellette-length work is difficult to sell to a publisher. It is considered too long for most publishers to insert comfortably into a magazine, yet too short for a novel. Generally, authors will piece together three or four novellette-length works into a compilation novel.

Novella

20,000 - 50,000 words

Although most print publishers will balk at printing a novel this short, this is almost perfect for the electronic publishing market length. The online audience doesn't always have the time or the patience to sit through a 100,000 word novel. Alternatively, this is an acceptable length for a short work of non-fiction.

Novel

50,000 -110,000

Most print publishers prefer a minimum word count of around 70,000 words for a first novel, and some even hesitate for any work shorter than 80,000. Yet any piece of fiction climbing over the 110,000 word mark also tends to give editors some pause. They need to be sure they can produce a product that won't over-extend their budget, but still be enticing enough to readers to be saleable. Imagine paying good money for a book less than a quarter-inch thick?

Epics and Sequels

Over 110,000 words

If your story extends too far over the 110,000 mark, perhaps consider where you could either condense the story to only include relevant details, or lengthen it to span out into a sequel, or perhaps even a trilogy. (Unless, of course, you're Stephen King - then it doesn't matter what length your manuscript is - a publisher is a little more lenient with an established author who has a well-established readership)

Page Counts

In most cases, industry standard preferred length is 250 words per page... so a 400 page novel would be at about 100,000 words. If you want to see what size book is selling in your genre, take a look on the shelves. If the average length is 300 pages, you're looking at a 75,000 word manuscript (approximately)

One reason it's harder for a new author to sell a 140,000 word manuscript is the size of the book. A 500+ page book is going to take up the space of almost two, 300 page books on the shelves. It's also going to cost more for the publishers to produce, so unless the author is well known, the book stores aren't going to stock that many copies of the 'door-stopper' novel as compared to the thinner novel.

Remember, these word- and page-counts are only estimated guides. Use your own common sense, and, where possible, check the guidelines of the publication you intend to submit your work to. Most publishers accepting shorter works will post their maximum preferred lengths, and novels are generally considered on the strength of the story itself, not on how many words you have squeezed into each chapter.

For lengths more specific to Children's books, please refer to Laura's article "Understanding Children's Writing Genres"

© Copyright Lee Masterson. All Rights Reserved.

Soundtrack Material for "Violator"???

2011-06-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Wrong
Depeche Mode

wrong
I was born with the wrong sign
In the wrong house
With the wrong ascendancy
I took the wrong road
That led to the wrong tendencies
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time
For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme
On the wrong day of the wrong week
I used the wrong method with the wrong technique
Wrong
There's something wrong with me chemically
Something wrong with me inherently
The wrong mix in the wrong genes
I reached the wrong ends by the wrong means
It was the wrong plan
In the wrong hands
The wrong theory for the wrong man
The wrong eyes on the wrong prize
The wrong questions with the wrong replies
Wrong
I was marching to the wrong drum
With the wrong scum
Pissing out the wrong energy
Using all the wrong lines
And the wrong signs
With the wrong intensity
I was on the wrong page of the wrong book
With the wrong rendition of the wrong look
With the wrong moon, every wrong night
With the wrong tune playing till it sounded right yeah
Wrong

Give Me Summer

2011-06-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

If Things Were Perfect
by Moby

give me summer
give me summer
broken darkness my cold end
I look for places I've never seen
nothing moves but the quiet on the street
now I open my eyes to this
isolated walking long hard hours
winter cold just brings me winter showers
it's so brutal with the cold sky
wrapped in cold late at night
give me summer
come clean, there's no sun yet
the only lights here are made
I can't speak, I can't hear, but I know I'm real
there's no warm here anyway
the darkest lights before the dawn
you remember the sun but it sank
in the water that eats the light
wrapped in cold, late at night
give me summer
I open my eyes, it's cold
the only souls go by
lift the bridge out of the water
the stone black light
living is easy when it's night
the cold has covered the rain
I can see forever, to the deep
wrapped in cold, late at night
give me summer

Copyright And Licensing

2011-06-14T08:02:00.000-07:00

ORIGINAL SOURCE

written by David Bushell

When we create something — let’s say a photograph — we own the copyright, which is our exclusive right as the author to own that work. We control who else can use our work and in what manner. For example, I could allow someone to print my photograph or adapt it in a piece of art. Rather than establishing verbal agreements, I can distribute my work with a license that sets the guidelines for use. The things that are copyrighted are sometimes referred to as “intellectual property.”

Licenses are granted by an authority to allow a usage; in my case, the use and distribution of resources by the copyright owner (i.e. me). I may decide to offer my photograph for free or charge a price; either way, I can include a license to limit usage, and I maintain the copyright. Just because someone pays money doesn’t mean they have full control or rights to what they’re buying. Licenses can dictate the number or uses, the bounds of use and even the length of time until the license expires.

Moreover, under “work for hire,” the employer holds the copyright, not the author or creative; in many cases, this is a company (such as a creative agency) or its client (by contractual agreement). In such cases, the creator retains “moral rights” to their work, including the right of attribution. This is partly why published articles refer to the author, although moral rights can include anonymity.

Copyright laws are incredibly complex, but this should be a good start.

Shoot

2011-06-12T10:08:00.000-07:00

a musky scent of a kill

A symbiotic magnetism exists between enemies who—truth be told—feel an attraction to each other born of their guaranteed, mutually assured destruction. The victor cannot exist without the vanquished and the vanquished must be worthy of conquest. The heroin of danger rushes through my veins soon firing my neurotransmitters and his testosterone breeds a musky scent of a kill impending that feeds my desire to engage, to mainline a dose, and to show my newfound love of his ruin in the vicious murder I shall measure out on his behalf.

Angels like him butcher my kind for entertainment. We are the ants burned by the righteous rays of their God-focused magnifying glasses. If we kill one of them, they act like hornets whose nest drew the attention of a Louisville Slugger. For the most part we stay out of their way and remain safe at least until the next time their balls itch.

“You’re plotting, demon,” he smirks as we accelerate from the parking lot. “Plotting will do you no tangible good. This game is beyond our individual rules and full of surprises for you.”

The Bluest Eye

2011-06-09T20:08:00.000-07:00

I admire the stones on him

We reach Bombay Beach in silence.

“You’ll like this place,” I say. “The have a great patty melt which..”

He waves his hand dismissively. I leave Highway 111 following Avenue A for a few blocks and head to the Ski Inn.

“This it?” he asks.

We go inside. Hundreds of defaced dollar bills saying things like “greetings from Omaha” or “call my ex for a good time” cling to the walls via Scotch tape. Locals sit at the bar drinking cheap beer and putting coins into a video game console playing it while they wait for Armageddon to come to their outpost on the southeastern edge of the Salton Sea. The aroma of the deep fryer promises comfort as it always does when I come here. The tropical storm that killed Michael’s human incarnation six years ago devastated this place leaving much of the marina and the trailer homes of vacationers entombed under a sea of mud.

“What are we having?” the waitress asks breaking the apparent tension several minutes after we seat ourselves.

“Cheeseburger and fries,” Cody answers in a monotone without diverting his stare from me hooking his right thumb in the pocket of his jeans and patting his leg to strike the alpha stance.

You think you’re packing, boy?

Those blue eyes of his seethe with the same smokiness Michael’s always got when ready to attack and, like his father before him, Cody’s glare demands iron-fisted truth delivered with razor-blade precision. Our territorial pissing is about to start and if he exhibits his father’s mettle I might save him from the path my brother and I were given. If not, I will see him eviscerated by demons for not being worthy of the legacy.

“Same for me,” I add admiring him having the stones on him to stare into the face of a demon and not blink or pee himself.

“Spill it!” he glowers after she walks away. “Say what you want me to hear.”

“Fine!” I retort letting him see the whites of my eyes go black. “You’re in way over your head, little boy, and you don’t know it. Do you have any idea what it means to be born sighted?”

Using Present Tense to Narrate Your Novel

2011-06-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

Vivid is good.

Logic would suggest that when writing a story an author should use past tense narration because--after all--stories take place in the past. Unfortunately, doing so immediately removes any present and future from the story, which runs counter to the reader’s intuition of knowing there is most decidedly a past, present, and future in real life. Removing the present and the future from the continuum can make the story seem less natural.

This is why some writers choose to write in the narrative present aka historical present.

Past-tense narration is a rule that can be broken.

Rhetorically speaking, the narrative present accomplishes several rather desirable outcomes.

The first is that it creates a better definition of recent past versus distant past, and makes transitions between them seamless. Strictly past-tense narration can become awkward or wordy when attempting this same goal. This sleight of hand where the reader intakes words in the present tense though his brain registers it in the past lends a sense of ease to the narration and no good work should be difficult to read.

The narrative present better engages the reader who feels he experiences the story as it is happening—rather than after the fact—and further both he and the author will reach the end together. Immediacy is much greater with the narrative present. With past-tense narration, the end is a foregone conclusion. Narrative present suspends that moment and ramps up the wonderment of how the story will end.

Thirdly, virtually all of us are “visual” readers in that we are so programmed to play the video that when we read we visualize. Here, narrative present accomplishes that goal far more readily than the past. This is because past-tense narration requires the brain to recast the video feed into the present so that the it can play.

Those who know their grammar and literary critics as well not that the narrative present makes past events more vivid. Vivid is good.

Splatter

2011-06-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

Blow your brains out and do it now.

“Why did you kill my wife?”

“Collateral damage unfortunately,” I answer. “She and the doctor were the first of three.”

“Of three?” he stammers.

“Yes,” I reply handing him the gun. “Blow your brains out and do it now.”

He stares into the black eyes of a demon.

“It won’t hurt,” I say. “Put it to your temple and pull the trigger. You won’t even hear it fire.”

He hesitates at first.

“You loved her and she’s gone. She cheated on you. How can you go on living? Do it Derek. Don’t be a pansy. Pull the trigger.”

Jackson Pollock would have been pleased at the spatter pattern.

Gender Neurality and Pronoun Agreement

2011-06-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

In our desire to be non-sexist in our writing, we have resorted to some rather stupid grammatical blunders (he/she, s/he, s/he/it, he/they), but the reality is that grammar rules are grammar rules for a reason. Their, they, and them are plural pronouns and should not be used with singular subjects or objects.

Repellent Example

When a person buys ~~their~~ car, ~~they~~ should be responsible.

Person is singular and their/they are plural. Not only is such a "solution" annoying to hear and read, it makes the speaker or author look rather illiterate.

One solution is to pluralize: When people buy their cars, they should be responsible.

But what if we need singular?

When a person buys his car, he should be responsible. (for male or generic)

or

When a person buys her car, she should be responsible. (for female or generic)

Using s/he and him/her is definitely NOT desired.

Being number correct is mandatory. Being tied up in battleship chains over some worry that people will think we are sexist for using he/him is passe.

Readability Statistics and YOU!

2011-05-31T18:26:00.000-07:00

Your writing must be readable.

If only writing were as simple as putting words on the page, editing them, revising , and publishing for the world to enjoy. Not only do we as writers have to produce something that interests us, we have to consider our audience. Published writers know other constraints such as length come into play, but more important than producing “interesting” writing, we must produce “readable” writing.

Flesch–Kincaid readability tests were developed to assess comprehension difficulty of a passage written in English with results reported as “reading ease” and “grade level” necessary for the intended audience. By evaluating word length and sentence length—along with other factors—Flesch-Kincaid gives great insight into the text.

Reading ease, reported on a 100-point scale, tells how difficult the piece is. The higher the number, the easier it is to read. A score of 90 to 100 would suggest that a reasonably literate 11-year-old would have no difficulty with the text. A 60-70 score would place the piece in the range of 13 to 15-year-olds. Thirty or below would best be understood by university graduates. The higher the reading ease, the lower the grade level. A Flesch-Kincaid grade level of 8.2 would suggest a typical 8th grader would have no difficulty with the diction of the text.

Microsoft Word allows users to select “readability statistics” and a part of the spell-check process. Along with the Flesch-Kincaid reading ease and grade level, Word also assesses the percent of passive verb constructions. We all know active voice (i.e. not “be” verbs and gerunds) is essential for competent story telling.

Writing in passive voice tends to make readability skyrocket (i.e. accessible to young readers), but grade level to collapse. Active voice can have the opposite effect.

The first four chapters ofThe Salton Sea Chronicles: Violator had just 1% passive verb constructions! I achieved a reading ease of 83.4, but a 12.9 grade-level rating. This shows how active voice can simultaneously increase the readability and the grade level.

The question is whether I wanted a 12.9 (freshman in college) reading level?

This blog entry is 5% passive, with an ease level of 49.6 at a 10.6 grade level. The ease level would suggest this is more informative mode than storytelling for example.

I have writer's block. What do I do now, Dr. Phil?

2011-05-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Just keep writing.

When you are writing constipated, write crap and fertilize the writing that is to come. Writer's block is just a way of your mind saying "not now" to you. As I write this, I am trying to write an exorcism scene, but it's just not flowing well. To combat this impasse, I am writing short pieces based on a picture I find on the internet. The picture above is a setting. Write a paragraph. By wiping the slate of trying to work on Chapter 27 of The Salton Sea Chronicles: Violator and going in an unrelated direction, the cognitive dissonance of not being able to write the scene will nag at my brain forcing it to produce, but it needs to do so in the BACKGROUND. Therefore in the foreground, I write something else. Not only do i gain fodder for new stories, when the scene is ready to flow it will come in a gush.

Most importantly, do not be a drama diva about writer's block. Doing so does not make you a better writer but it does let everyone know you are a drama addict.

Just keep writing.

When is a piece beyond revision?

2011-05-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

If a piece has only a faint glimmer of hope for success, start from scratch. Writing well has a certain efficacy behind it. I always loved This Old House where Bob Vila would spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to save an old house that could be bulldozed and rebuilt for a fraction of the time and money need to turn a condemned building into one that was habitable and enjoyable to live in. The same is true of writing. If a piece needs an inordinate amount of TLC, pitch it! Your pieces of writing are NOT you children, so get off it and be brutal. If it is not good, write something that is!

Novel Trailer

2011-05-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

...a touch of evil...

The Salton Sea Chronicles: Violator

Click the above link for the trailer to the novel I am working on. These are some of the images I used to help visualize the storyline. Judas Priest's A Touch of Evil could not have been more perfect.

Flow

2011-05-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

God’s angels are not in business to save demons should one want to repent, but to kill all.

I step into the warm cascade closing the shower door behind me knowing baptism did not save me nor will a hastily said act of contrition. I am beyond help. Water washes over my face and chest. I have gone too far. Killing an angel—even a dirty one like Kamal—summons the rest of their hateful lot. The demons will come for me to kill me as a sacrificial offering to protect the stasis between dark and light they have fought to create, but should I pray anyway?

My reality shifts in a strange Twilight Zone moment where suddenly nothing is as it was, or is it a Hitchcock flash where the horizon line skews? How soon are angels coming to get me for killing Kamal? Should I beg forgiveness to their God or be slaughtered for defiance of Lucifer? I feel falling-to-the-floor dizzy. I brace my hands against the tiled wall of the shower sensing its coldness with the memory of my demon conversion coming back over me.

“God…” I begin, for reasons I cannot comprehend, but cut my words off sharp. My intestines suddenly want to purge their contents and I constrict my sphincter to hold it in as I dash to the toilet. Convulsive pain.

My prayer—should I be weak enough to say it--would fall on the unsympathetic ears of cowardly angels whose guardianship I never had in the first place. I flush the toilet of their treachery and return to the shower.

I am the unpardonable enemy against the showdown of light and goodness. By stepping into the badlands, I have affixed the target to my chest. Should an angel out me as a demon and kill me before their faithful, no one would see their treachery. Demons will laud me only if Kamal’s death carries no repercussions. Unlikely. God’s angels are not in business to save demons should one want to repent, but to kill all.

Writing Groups

2011-05-28T19:00:00.000-07:00

www.yafantasyguide.com

As I have made writing "friends" on Twitter, one that stands out is Stacey O'Neale. Follow the link above for the full article The Worst Writing Advice I've Ever Received, but I would like to share an excerpt here:

"You Must Participate In A Critique Group Some critique groups are great and offer sound advice, but not all. Just because someone calls themselves a writer doesn't mean they're in any position to offer advice. This is especially true if they don't write in your genre. I mean, I could probably offer advice about fantasy writing just because I read it and write all the time, but if you asked me about science fiction or horror then I'd be lost. Critique groups can be great, but be cautious with their input into your story."

In addition to the 100% dead-accurate advice above, would add/echo:

Dedication If you are in a writing group where people are toying with writing something and you have a novel written and want to take it to the next level, you will be utterly hating life as the dabblers dabble and wallow in the angst of their writer's block (cliche) and the ecstasy of their awakening creativity (cliche). Writers get it done because they want to reach publication.

Genre
In my last writing group were four dedicated writers of novels but the following genres were represented: science fiction, fantasy/comedy, young adult fantasy, and paranormal dystopian. The span was too wide despite the affinity of the writers for each other.

Critique
Assuming there is some genre congruence in your group and assuming there is an affinity for the members of the group, soliciting critique and being "open" is just plain stupid. Why would you NOT protect your piece? Ask specifically for the type of critique you want. Might it be the interaction between two characters? Might it be to check whether you have used so much sensory imagery that the plot is buried and the audience is tuning out due to boredom overload? Might it be believable dialog? Might it be...? What it should not be is a critique everything call.

Voice
One huge danger of a writing group is the homogenization of the voice. The more enmeshed the group the more alike it will sound. The more controlled a group is the more the voice will sound like the one controlling it.

No

2011-05-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

This excerpt has been edited for a wider audience.

Straightjacket fits consume her.

Sitting in the last pew of the Crown of Thorns Catholic Church in the silence of predawn, a tear traces Sister Anastasia’s cheek. The warm, ambient air of this Indian Summer morning presages the impending beast from hell who will soon invade her has he has done for more than a year. Unable to pray, but wanting to stave off her descent into Hell, regrets scream inside her head like unruly children not getting their way. Perhaps she should have sunk into the abyss of heroin addiction while she had the chance. Perhaps she should have resisted my brother when he wanted to save her to assuage his guilt. Perhaps she should have become a martyr when perdition called rather than submit.

Thirty minutes ago, her footsteps echoed off the nave’s walls much the same way her high heels used to sound when she left dark alleys after being with jittery men who easily ran.

She tells herself that was so very long ago. She wishes the pain would stop, but which source of it should she silence first? Straightjacket fits consume her. Now, instead of feeling the joy of her redemption, she feels trapped in a hell of sterile morality with a predator raping her of salvation.

He runs late this morning. Soon, the old women smelling of Bengay will file in to recite the Rosary automatistically with the words of the Our Father and Hail Mary fusing together into a sing-song stream of monotony devoid of any reverence. They must not overhear. He has confessions to hear; she tells herself. Sister Anastasia wishes my brother would come instead. She remembers him.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

1. What does my character look like?

When writing a novel, numerous characters materialize in the foreground and in the background and over the course of seventy-five to one hundred thousand words (the typical length of a novel) losing track of them is easy. While some writers just write, others plan out their characters completely BEFORE writing. Being factually consistent with your character be it chapter one, seven, or twenty is a must.

In my trilogy, twin brothers Michael and Dominic (Nick) Ramsey unleash a torrent of invective behavior at each other and to those around them in the name of Heaven and Hell. I have lived with these men to the point they are family. I have a file on both of them as well as other characters.

An author has to see his character and I speak literally. Envisioning is one thing but concretizing it another. Because Michael and Nick are diametrically opposed yet identical twins, I needed a face that could encompass both extremes. A little googling resulted in the face of a model named Will Chalker who can look like the guy next door (Michael)...

or the devil incarnate (Nick)...

I do this kind of image search for each character, in addition to the setting, and even minor details like what a given restaurant would have looked like.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:41:00.001-07:00

2. Where does your character live?

My storyline takes place in and around the Salton Sea and I submit readers prefer a real place as opposed to a made up nothing of a town. For three years, I have visited and explored the Salton Sea of California in all four seasons and at all times of the day and night. I have immersed myself in the history of the area not only what I can glean by research, but by also talking to people who have lived the history as residents. An author cannot place a character into a situation that his experience will not let him write and when an author has the hubris to do so he comes off arrogant, disingenuous, careless, and worthy of derision. You must do the legwork of research.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

3. Where is your character from and what is his background?

Michael and Nick are Pasadena country club types. I have seen where they grew up. I have seen where they went to school, where they ate, went to church, and did what they did. Although Pasadena rarely shows up in the trilogy, the context of my characters’ formative years has to be rock solid if they are to remain believable.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:35:00.000-07:00

4. What age is your character?

This is far from a simple answer. In The Salton Sea Chronicles: Violator, the storyline takes place in the early 1980’s and the protagonist (really an antagonist masquerading as one) is in his thirties. Nick and Michael were born in 1949. This means they were alive to experience the sharp increases in material wealth and the skyrocketing technology of the Atomic Age. They were fourteen when JFK was assassinated. They saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. Their father, because of his wealth and influence, bought their way out of the draft for the Vietnam war. They were adults for the Nixon debacle. The Salton Sea Chronicles: Avenger takes place during Carter’s economic implosion and the psychological depression so many suffered under that administration pervades the emotional feel of the characters. Violator takes place during the Reagan years and as Reagan was, it is more raised middle finger. The “age” of the character is so much more than just a number.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:31:00.000-07:00

5. What is your character called?

Names are important and what names mean or evoke must be considered. Michael, the name meaning “Who is like God”, was ideal for a vigilante Angel. His middle name is Adam, the first man. Dominic, means “of the Lord” putting him on par with his twin, but Nick is a demon and the one he answers to was of the Lord and cast out of Heaven. Nick’s middle name, Ryan, means “little king” which furthers Nick’s irony of not being the fortunate son despite his name.

Additionally, learn to spell, people! If your character is named Nick, it is not spelled Nyk. Just because people are hooked on phonics and cannot be bothered to spell names correctly is no reason to perpetuate the ignorance. John is not spelled Jhon. Invented spellings for names that have standard spellings look ridiculous not to mention lazy.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

6. How does your character deal with conflict and change?

In conflict, Michael shoots then aims because he knows there is a bottom line, a right answer, and the decisions are black and white. He is uncharacteristically blunt in speaking his truth and does not really care if weak people need hand holding. He has no time for it. He definitely does not surround himself with dysfunctional people. As for change, it is best forced upon Michael.

When conflict comes to Nick, he immediately assesses the power differences between those involved in the situation, what he has to gain or lose, then becomes the person he needs to be to win. Lying does not bother Nick and playing to people’s dysfunctions is his sport. He adores change usually because as a manipulator he is usually the one forcing the upset to the status quo.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

7. Who else is in your character's life?

This is where sketching out the story arc is vital. Once you have your protagonist and your intended trajectory for the storyline, the types and amounts of characters necessary depend on the protagonist’s mindset and what must occur. Michael rages against the status quo, so the supporting characters are fewer in his part of the trilogy. Because Nick is a manipulator, a greater number of supporting characters shows up, BUT those characters have to have a purpose for being there and have to play into the patterns caused by the protagonist’s psychological mindset.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

8. What is your character's goal or motivation in this story or scene?

Think of this as your thesis. In an essay, there is an overarching thesis and each body paragraph has a sub-thesis supporting the main but confined to the paragraph. With a novel, the protagonist has motivation that drives his goal. Each chapter must have a sub-goal and sub-motivation which supports the big picture. If you write your novel like you feel it, the storyline will suffer too many detours and awkward attempts to right the ship.

The Character Dossier

2011-05-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

9. What does your character drive?

OK, guilty pleasure, but illustrative of attention to detail. Michael drives a 1968 Shelby GT500KR with a 428 cubic inch Cobra Jet V8 under the hood. You can approximate the ambience by watching the pivotal scene from Bullitt which featured a lesser Mustang or you can experience the real thing.

Bullitt

Bullitt

GT500KR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncJVyu-JQhE&feature=related

By contrast, Nick drives a 1967 Corvette Sting Ray (two words through 1967 and one word after) with a 427 “fuelie” or “rat” V8. Experiencing them is essential to writing them.

1967 Corvette Sting Ray

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPZ0cIFCM1k

You say they are just cars! Attention to detail drives good writing.

Types of Characters…Getting the Matrix Right

2011-05-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

let us look at the matrix of archetypes

First, let us dispel a myth: A static character is not automatically a flat character, nor is a dynamic character therefore round. This misconception stems from people not taking the time to understand the differences.

Static VS Dynamic

A static character is one not undergoing substantive change in a storyline, whereas a dynamic character changes rather significantly.

Flat VS Round

A flat character is one not well defined within the story, whereas a round character is one so vividly defined that we can almost see him and feel we know him.

So, let us look at the matrix of archetypes.

Static-Flat (SF)

A static-flat character would be one who does not undergo change and who is not deeply defined. At first glance we would wonder why any author with a brain in his head would want such a character in the first place? Here is why: good writers do NOT deeply define all their characters for to do so would (1) be self-indulgent, (2) a waste of writing time, and (3) annoying to the reader who has to sit through the life dossier of the gas-station attendant who has a casual conversation with the protagonist and never returns to the story. SF characters provide the “community backdrop” through which the protagonist and antagonist duke it out.

Static-Round (SR)

A static-round character begs the question as to why an author would deeply define a character only to have him NOT change. The answer is pathetically simple. SR characters are foils who contrast with the protagonist in order to sharpen that character’s personality. There is a reason for the foil being a sidekick to the protagonist and the reader needs to know it. This has SR written all over it. A foil would not change much for to do so would be to rob the thunder of the protagonist. Let us imagine the protagonist is neurotic. In order for the reader to understand the impact of the character's psychological dysfunction, a character must exist as a yardstick. That simple.

Dynamic-Flat (DF)

A dynamic-flat character is also another head-scratcher for McDonald’s grade authors. Why would we have a character who undergoes substantive change and not have him well defined? What if your antagonist, or protagonist for that matter, is an enigma? Enigmas, by their very nature, are not well defined. Mystery is good. A DF character done well keeps the reader wondering what is the story behind the story and why the character ticks the way he ticks. DF characters can increase the dramatic tension in the plot.

Dynamic-Round (DR)

The dynamic-round character is what some misguided writing coaches purport to be the holy grail of writing when in reality a DR character can be very tiresome to have to read. DR characters are by far the most difficult to write well. Imagine the flood of sensory detail, angst, spleen venting, clichéd moments of self doubt, and trembling-lip moments that COULD pollute a DR. The trick with a DR character is to have him bloom organically rather than have the heavy hand of the author intrude. If done well, a DR makes a great protagonist or antagonist.

So, You Want to be a Writer

2011-05-21T19:07:00.000-07:00

Morning Pages?? Don’t Get Me Started!

Julia Cameron—often credited with getting (mostly) women “writing”--commands her faithful devotees in The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Creativity to write “morning pages” which she insists, with an iron-fistednness (sic) befitting the Gestapo, be done longhand and cover at least three pages.

(see rolled eyes)

Writing is not a religion, Julia!

Her faithful, often identifying themselves as highly sensitive souls (read dysfunctional people), must do their morning pages because “they” may feel disconnected from “themselves” especially when materialism abounds in our society.

(insert sound of a toilet flushing)

While Ms. Cameron is correct that regular writing is good practice, three pages is entirely arbitrary on her part and writing longhand is just plain counterintuitive when one has a computer.

It should be noted that Julia Cameron has made bank on getting people to start being creative while at the same time hobbling them so they will need her next book to advance.

Do I really want to retype every nugget that comes my way, or do I want to cut and paste? Clearly, the latter.

Cameron’s Luddite martyrs are free to continue writing about their feelings and how they wish they were writers, or creative people, or artists, and the rest of us will get down to work. I for one am glad they will never amount to anything as authors thus making it easier for me to get published.

Writing is what I do and what I teach.

Those who CAN, teach.

If you want to be a writer, try these five steps on for size:

1. Make time for writing.

Shut up. Sit down at your computer. Write.

It does not have to be in the morning, but you must be in the habit of writing. The point is to set aside time EVERY day to “write” which could mean new composition or revision and editing of something that already exists.

Writing is discipline much more than it is art. Great writers work their “art” through brutal editing and time-consuming revision to the point that we should really value the product rather than the “art” of creating it.

2. Write with a purpose.

Some think that great writers do so for the hell of it, but Stephen King would be the first to say that he does not have time to write for the hell of it because time is too precious to waste.

Setting off with a goal in mind and then channeling your work with the end in mind is a sure-fire way for your writing to have a PURPOSE. Why would you NOT want your writing to have a reason for existing other than the onansistic writing motives Ms. Cameron espouses?

3. Check your dysfunction at the door.

My bullshot needle pegs quickly.

Being creative is easy. Being good at is is harder. Casting yourself as a “creative” person will not make it so. Be real! Get down to the hard work.

People who are inherently good at any endeavor do not seek the adulation of sycophantic Klingons to validate their fragile egos.

Great writers tend not to be overly impressed with themselves because they know conceit is its own downfall and that their book went through countless hours of editing and revision. A writer impressed with himself is actually someone who feels inadequate. Beware!

Wannabe writers, by contrast, are very self-impressed with their “craft” and their “process” of writing and want nothing more than to find people suck their teat. Compose however you want, but doing so on your iPad, or iPhone, or Twitter account and claiming you have revolutionized writing is the surest way to prove otherwise.

People will be critical no matter what so why resort to a gimmick when you should actually be making your writing good through hard work in the first place?

4. Check your ego at the door.

When others read your work, if you will be offended by their bluntness and feel they should play nice, burn your manuscript now because you lack the chops to be strong enough to confront the bitter truth of your missteps as a writer. Be a big boy or girl and demand the naked, brutal truth and check your sniveling at the door. If you cannot take the heat when your peer response group tells it like it is, how will you feel when a critic harpoons your work post publication…assuming you actually make it that far? Do not cry. Do not take it personally. Develop a spine. Say “thank you” instead.

5. Writer’s block is nothing but a lame excuse.

If you are a writer, writer’s block does not exist because if you cannot compose fresh, you are busy reading and reworking what you have written. Why would you impose a constraint that your first-draft writing should be good? First-draft writing is just about containing thoughts on a page. Write even if it is bad!

Oh yeah...I am in your face.

Now, get writing!

Passive Voice: The Hallmark of Boring Writing

2011-05-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Grammatically speaking, there are two voices: active and passive. Passive voice exists to REPORT information and when reporting information, verbs should be as unobtrusive as a Camry.

Active voice is for STORYTELLING and as such if you are writing a story, you should use active voice whenever possible.

The problem with passive voice is that it hides well especially when a gerund shows up in the verb phrase.

What is passive voice?

ANY construction using a be verb (is, am, are, was, were, will be) is passive. Adding an “-ing” word does not make the verb active.

Passive: Susan is walking down the street. (reporting)
Active: Susan walks down the street. (storytelling)

Some self-proclaimed grammarians say that using a gerund with a "be" verb is active voice, but these dim lights also think beginning sentences with a coordinating conjunction is perfectly OK. (You can't coordinate two things at the START of sentence.) Let's all nod at them for they know not what they do.

ANY construction using have, has, had.

Passive: Brian has won the spelling bee. (reporting)
Active: Brian won the spelling bee. (storytelling)

ANY construction with meaningless verbs like “looks” or “seems” which seem like actions when they are not.

Passive: The boy’s room looks untidy. (reporting)
Active: The boy’s room explodes with dirty clothes, smelly shoes, and unmade bed.

Ridding passages of passive constructions is a kindness your readers will appreciate.

Regret

2011-05-20T18:10:00.000-07:00

“Michael!” she gasps.

Sunday, September 2nd 1984
5:28 am
Indio, California

With a tear tracing her cheek in the silence of predawn, Sister Anastasia sits in the last pew of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church unable to pray as regrets scream inside her head. She feels her soul unable to continue and wants to sob but she cannot open the floodgates. In thirty minutes, old women will file in to recite the Rosary automatistically to the point that their words fuse together into a sing-song stream of monotony devoid of any reverence. She cannot pray with them. For nine years she has been a nun and, at first, her second vocation came as a welcome change from the attendant cigarettes, Jack Daniels, grotesque men, and heroin so prevalent in the world’s oldest profession. Now, instead of feeling the joy of redemption, she feels trapped in a hell of sterile morality. She is unaware I approach.

“Michael!” she gasps.

Narration: Know It All or Not?

2011-05-20T05:45:00.000-07:00

In literature, an omniscient (all-seeing) narrator allows the author to tell the reader anything the characters cannot show and because the author is not a character in the piece, we call this third person. The inherent problem with this all-too-common mode is that the reader always feels there is a pane of glass separating him from the story. The characters exist and operate and we get to know them...at a distance.

A limited omniscient narrator at his best is a character in the storyline and we see the plot unfold and have our perceptions formed through the eyes of the narrator. While some like the counterintuitive idea of a third-person, limited-omniscient narrator, limited omniscience is best saved for a first person "I" narrator.

Well, Pandora, that opens a new box indeed because then we must wrestle with whether the narrator is reliable or unreliable. The purpose behind a lot of third-person, omniscient narration is to connote reliability and a Camry may be reliable, but it is also beige boring. A reliable narrator never lies to us, but where is the fun in that?

If a third-person, omniscient narrator proves unreliable (i.e. what he says in reality is not), we can feel angry and betrayed if we were deliberately misdirected. How does an author win with that?

First-person narration is assumed to be limited omniscient as well as unreliable because the reality of the narration comes entirely from mental, psychological complex of the narrator. He may not be lying to us intentionally, but we assume he is imperfect and we cut him some slack...maybe. What is the advantage? Immediacy. We feel we are riding in the head of the narrator who is a character in the story as it unfolds. There is no pane of glass separating the reader from the action, but we know anything could blind-side us as the plot unfolds. Excitement.

Heaven forbid we should think of a first-person, unreliable, and omniscient narrator! That would be just devilish.

No Quarter

2011-05-17T20:34:00.000-07:00

a different sky will vault over the horizon

Mere humans fear the final epoch of existence when a different sky will vault over the horizon of the Earth causing mass panic from fearful omens that appear. Rivers cresting their berms will inundate and kill the screaming thousands with a convulsing embrace. Earthquakes opening gaping fissures will consume those running for safety laughing its rumbling voice. The so-called faithful praying to their all-powerful God will witness instead grudge match between Heaven and Hell driven only by the Father and Lucifer’s blood war. There will be no safe quarter.

Sound Familiar?

2011-05-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

Dystopia: a society characterized by human misery...

Writing

2011-05-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

steer clear of one dimensional characters

Republishing a GREAT article on writing by Stacey O'Neale

Writing Believable Characters

Your novel will live or die by the believability of your characters. Why, because your characters sell your story. They take you through each scene and the plot develops through their experiences. They have to be well rounded so that they capture your audience. Here's a few key points to keep in mind when creating fictional characters.

1. Character Development

Your characters have to evolve along with the plot or it doesn't work. Try to think about life in a general sense. Friendships and romantic relationships take time to develop. Some more quickly than others but never all at once.

Also, steer clear of one dimensional characters. Your hero cannot be without flaws and your bad guy cannot be all bad. That's just not human. Think of yourself for a minute and make a list of all your best/worst personality traits. You have some on both sides, right? Well, so should all your characters.

2. Use Imagery

You have to write using your five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. I'm sure you've all heard writers say, "show me without telling". That's what that phrase means. Allow your readers to go through the experience with your characters.

Some examples:

• Don't just tell me he touched her face. Tell me what her skin felt like when he touched it?

• Don't tell me his breath stunk. Describe what his breath smelled like?

• Don't tell me they ate dinner together. What did they eat? What did the food taste like?

• Don't say your character is a slob. What is your character wearing?

Let the reader figure out an opinion themselves. That's how good writing works. You give them the clues and they make up their minds.

3. Know Your Characters

Before you can write a novel, you need to know your characters as well as you know yourself. Not their storylines - them. What are their likes and dislikes? What are their favorite foods and pet peeves? What about their physical traits? You need to know everything about them so that you know how they will react in situations. Try giving them a birthday. Why? Because every astrology sign has a list of character traits that includes strengths and weaknesses. Use them to help you develop your characters personality. May sound silly, but give it a try.

4. Dialogue

This is extremely important especially in the young adult and middle grade markets. Teenagers and children have their own lingo. If you get the language wrong then it will kill your novel no matter how good your story happens to be. Most importantly, don't try to explain the whole story in the dialogue between two characters.

Bad Writing Example:

Henry said, "Carla, I know you are feeling this way because six months ago you lost your father in a car accident and feel personally responsible."

No one talks like that and your readers know it. Simply put, you have to do better than that. The easiest way to pick up on this is to pay attention to how people talk in conversations. Go sit somewhere and people watch. If that doesn't work then think about the conversations you have with your co-workers, friends, significant other, etc. Use that knowledge to help you with your character dialogue.

I know that all this may sound daunting, but writing isn't easy. The best advice I can give is to say that you need to read a ton especially in the genre you plan to write in. The more you read, the better you will understand the art of writing. Good luck and Happy Writing.

What Really Counts When Writing?

2011-05-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

going for balance

Sensory Detail
Appealing to sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell--is an essential component of writing because it makes characters, settings, and action more vivid, BUT when writers seize on this as their priority what often results is impossibly dense prose that tends to obliterate storyline coherence. Some writers overdose on sensory detail to mask an ineffective storyline. A strong storyline with engaging characters benefits from sensory detail, but does not rely on it for effectiveness.

Not only must sensory detail be used in moderation, it must also not result in cliches.

Literary Devices
Metaphors, similes, personification, alliteration, allusions, parallelism, flat/round/static/dynamic characters, imagery, etc. are the hallmarks of fine writers and are every bit as important--if not more--than sensory detail. The central reason for using literary devices is that they promote showing writing (first articulated by the National Writing Project 25 years ago). Showing writing revolutionized composition because prose became more experiential in which the reader invented the meaning. Prior to showing writing, telling writing tended to be more the norm and put the author in charge of the meaning. The author told readers what to think and that was that.

Musicality
Paragraphs of prose should have a feeling that the author appreciates the sound of words and the rhythms of the language. The orchestration of sentence types (simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex) changes the flow of the language, creates and sustains interest, and makes a chapter fly by. A preponderance of simple sentences--by contrast--creates an annoying telegraphic da-da-boom-da-da-boom kind of sound that turns readers off.

Active NOT Passive
Active voice relies purely on actions while passive voice draws primarily on "be" verbs (is, am, are, was, were, and these verbs plus "ing" words). A passive construction (Maria was walking fearfully down the street.) is boring while an active construction (Maria fearfully walked down the street.) is more immediate and engaging.

Dialog
We create all kinds of characters and the easiest ones to develop are ones identical to ourselves, but let's say you create a Latino character who is a recent immigrant from Oaxaca Mexico. How would the person talk? Do you KNOW anyone similar to your character? If not, your character will likely be (1) inauthentic or worse (2) chiched and stereotypical. Just as prose should NOT be written like you "talk" it (which is the moronic mantra of so many elementary grade teachers), dialog should NOT talk like you write it. In real conversation we often cut each other off in a conversation as we catch on to the thread of the conversation. How many times, in informal conversation, do we really wait for someone to finish speaking before we begin? How many times in informal conversation do we speak in complete sentences? NEVER!

Facts
What we write must be historically accurate if we are writing in the past and factually consistent with ourselves if we are creating a futuristic world. When writing a novel, keeping a fact binder of even the smallest details of a character will make your work consistent. Doing actual, direct research about an area where the setting is placed is also essential.

Observation and Testing
If you are writing a story taking place in New York City and you have never been there, your writing will be flimsy at best and pathetically laughable at worst. If you write about a car a character is driving, have you ever driven one? Writing is not just about sitting at the computer and vomiting onto the screen. Writing a novel takes very little time for the initial composition. "Living" the novel by experiencing places and essential components has to be a mandatory part of the equation.