Posts Tagged ‘novel’

Starlight Blogger Award!

Posted: October 11, 2015 in Living and Life, Reflections
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I’ve been nominated for the Starlight Blogger Award by my good friend Katja from Life & Other Disasters, aka The Impossible Girl Blog. She gets nominated for a lot of these things, and the fact that she willingly does so many of them astounds me every time (I’m not sure I’d have the patience if I got nominated for these all the time).

Alright, so I have to post the rules of this award, so here they are:

1. Thank the giver and link their blog to your post.

2. Answer the 3 original questions and then the 3 new questions from your nominator given to you.

3. Nominate your 6 favorite bloggers! In your nominees I would like for you to think at the light emanating from the stars the ones that truly touch your soul with their work, the ones that are the light for you a true STARLIGHT Blogger.

4. Please pass the award on to 6 or more other Bloggers of your choice and let them know that they have been nominated by you.

5. Include the logo of the award in a post or on your Blog, please never alter the logo, never change the 3 original questions answer that first then answer the 3 new questions from your nominator and never change the Award rules.

6. Please don’t delete this note:

The design for the STARLIGHT Bloggers Award has been created from YesterdayAfter. It is a Copyright image, you cannot alter or change it in any way just pass it to others that deserve this award.

Copyright 2015 © YesterdayAfter.com – Design by Carolina Russo”

Alright, so here are my answers to the original questions:

1. If you could meet anyone throughout history, who and why? Oh, that is a tough one, especially since I’m such a Whovian. I’d guess I’d like to meet a few spiritual or religious figures. Shri Mataji, the founder of Sahaja Yoga, as well as the Lubavitch Rebbe, who’s pretty big in Hasidism. I think I might also meet a few authors: Shakespeare, Agatha Christie. I don’t know, that would be fun.

2. What is your favorite book and why? Ooh, I hate this question. It’s always changing. I guess I’ll go back to my stock answer for the past year and a half, because I haven’t read anything to top it yet: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. Great storytelling, powerfully dramatic scenes, lots of great social commentary, and characters that you can’t get out of your head. I love it, and I recommend it to anyone who was dissatisfied with Hunger Games and wanted something more.

3. Who is your favorite fiction character from any medium and why? Do I have to pick one?! Fine, I’ll pick one. I know most people expect me to say the Doctor, and while I do love him, I think it might be Lelouch Lamperouge from the anime Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. He’s such a fun character. On the one hand you hate what he’s doing in order to accomplish his goals, but at the same time you’re fascinated by him and you cheer him on because you see the good he’s doing and the wrongs he’s fighting. I guess that means he’s a good antihero, and the company behind the anime did their job.

And now for Katja’s questions:

1. If you could be a character in any fictional story of your choosing (book/TV/movie/comics/etc.), where would you want to go? If I’m interpreting this question right, I could be myself, but I’d be an original character in an established universe. Well, that’s easy. I’m hanging out with the Doctor on the TARDIS, fighting off monsters and saving planets. Heck, I have a bunch of ideas for stories where the Doctor is teamed up with a young man–maybe based on myself–whom he takes in and becomes like a father figure to, all the while dark forces watch their progress together for their own sinister purposes. Steven Moffat, call me. We’ll make the most exciting series of DW ever…or a great series of novels.

2. What’s a song that always gets you in a good mood? Oh, there are so many, spanning a range of genres. I guess if I’m going to choose, I’d have to say “Voodoo Child” by Rogue Traders. I only listen to it when I’ve accomplished something, like finishing the latest draft of a story or getting published or something along those lines, so I associate it with good times and good things in my life. One of these days I’d like to do a flash mob to it and load it onto YouTube as a promotion for some book or another.

3. Did you ever consider going to a Comic Con? If yes/no, why? Would you dress up as someone else? Oh, I would love to go to a Comic Con. I would probably wear something that would promote one of my books and get people interested in reading them somehow. Like for Reborn City, I’d have the Hydra symbol on the back of a T-shirt and the front would say “ASK ME ABOUT THE BACK OF MY SHIRT.” It certainly would be a conversation starter. The problem is that besides getting the tickets, hotel and transportation costs, and everything else, it costs a little too much for me at this point in my life. But maybe someday when I have a bit saved up…anything’s possible.

Alright, so I have to think up three original questions, so here they are:

1. When was the last time you saw a scary movie? What was it, what did you think, and do you normally watch scary movies?

2. What are you dressing up for this Halloween? What are your plans for the holiday?

3. What is something (book/TV show/comic book/movie) from your childhood that you still enjoy today?

Alright, here are my six nominees:

Okay, that’s all for now. Tomorrow I’ve got another post coming out, so look out for that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this post, my Followers of Fear. I know I did. Gut nacht!

Conversations with Joleene Naylor

Posted: October 6, 2015 in Journalism, Living and Life, Reflections, Scary Stuff, short story, Writing
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I think this interview has been a long time in the making, and I’m glad it’s finally happened.

Today’s author is a woman who you might have seen commenting a lot on this blog. She’s an author of several vampire novels, as well as a contributor to Self-Published Authors Helping Other Authors, and a contributor/editor/compiler/whatever to the Ink Slingers’ anthologies, including Strange Portals and the recently published When the Lights Go Out. It’s Joleene Naylor, and I’m looking forward to hearing what she has to say!

Welcome to the blog, Joleene. So tell us, what are your short stories about and what inspired them?

Unforgotten is about a pair of old school chums in the UK who go on an annual trip every year on the same date. This years’ trip is complicated by Gordon’s missing wife and the ghost of a little girl who wants to be found. It’s actually based on a dream I had. It started out the same: in a car discussing having been interrogated by the police. Only there was no ghost girl.

In Beldren, a group of former indentured servants decide to take what they feel they are owed from an easy mark; a household of women. Their plan is perfect except for one thing: the women are vampires.  This one was inspired one night when a pickup kept going around and around past our house and my brother got nervous they were “up to something” and I thought, “I wonder what would happen if robbers broke in and found out the people of the house were serial killers? Or vampires? Hmmmm… That could be an interesting story…” Hopefully it is.

I read the first one and liked it, so I have high hopes for the second one. Now what else have you written?

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The Amaranthine vampire series. Shades of Gray is the first, and the newest is book seven, Clash of Legends. I’ve tried to make the story creepy and disturbing, and at times bloody and horrific, instead of just the usual romantic sop that a certain YA book has turned the vampire genre into. There’s no sparkling and no high school, just blood, fighting, and vampires who feed on humans and burn in the sun.

Are you a traditionally or self-published writer?

Self published because I want to own the rights to my own work.

What got you into writing in the first place?

My mother was a writer and poet, so it never occurred to me not to “make up stories”. My brother and I used to make (and illustrate) books for fun when we were children. (I also used to draw book covers and catalogs, complete with product descriptions – I was strange.)

What is it about scary stories that you think draw people in?

People enjoy being scared – safely. We like that little “Oh!”, the tiny burst of adrenaline and that aftermath giggle, but we like when we know we’re not *really* in danger, and a scary story can give us that.

Are you working on anything these days?

I’ve reworked Patrick: A Prequel, but I need to edit it. I am also working on Masque of the Vampire, the eighth book in the series, and the Tales of the Executioners short story collection. There are four of those, three are available for free through most retailors (except Amazon) and the fourth, Beldren, is included in the When the Lights Go Out anthology.

What is some advice you would give to other writers, regardless of their level of experience or background?

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Write what you want to read because if you want to read it, then edit the heck out of it. Change words, shorten scenes, add scenes, delete scenes. The original version may seem like a masterpiece to you, but it isn’t – it’s a rough stone that needs cut down and polished in order to shine.  That may be hard to admit sometimes, or to acknowledge, but it’s the truth for everyone.

If you were stuck on a desert island and could only take three books with you, what would you take?

I think short story collections give you more bang for your buck when it comes to being stranded for a long time, so: The Complete Tales of Edgar Allan Poe, The Faun and the Woodcutter’s Daughter by B. L. Picard, and right now I really, really, really want to read A Candle in Her Room by Ruth M Arthur, only I can’t find a copy priced at anything I can afford, so in fantasy land I would have it. Alternately, if it has to be a book I owned, I’d swap it out for My Sweet Audrina by VC Andrews.

Well, thank you Joleene for joining us today. Really enjoyed picking your brain. And readers, if you want to check out more of Joleene, you can find her on her website, her blog, her Facebook page, on Twitter, and on Goodreads.

Also check out the Interviews page for my talks with other authors and even some characters.

And make sure to check out When the Lights Go Out, available from Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iTunes. It’s the perfect way to start the Halloween season.

Tips on Writing Romance From an Author Who Doesn’t Write Romance

Posted: October 6, 2015 in Novelette, Reflections, Writing
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I just recently finished the second draft of “Gynoid”, a sci-fi love story novelette. During that time, I thought a lot about romance in fiction. Have you noticed that it’s everywhere? In fiction, you find a lot of time devoted to find your one true love, and in real life, you find people not just actively looking for their one true love(s), but even measuring themselves by fictional couples! Our music is rife with love songs or how love is betrayed (the so-called “Song of Songs” in the Bible is one huge erotic love song), and if you go back in time, some of our oldest stories involve love and lovers.

Heck, it’s in a lot of my fiction too! And I write fiction where “love” is more likely intense adrenaline and a shared peril being mistaken for attraction. Snake has a love story that’s central to its plot, Reborn City has a bit of romance in it here and there, and..well, you saw the description for “Gynoid” above.

But rather than speculate on why romance and finding it is such a big thing (I think we can all guess at the answer, right?), I think I’m going to share some of the trade secrets I’ve gleaned over the years from other writers and from my own romantic experience, both writing it and from experiencing it (do not ask me which I have more of. I wouldn’t want to upset anyone) on writing romance in your stories. Why? No particular reason, it’s just on my mind and in my stories so much I feel like talking about it. And I know I might not be the most qualified person to talk about the subject–I know I’m not a romance writer–but I know a bit, and since when has not being an expert ever stopped anyone from talking about anything? (*cough* climate change deniers in Congress *cough*)

So let’s begin on my tips for including romance in your stories:

  1. Give the characters personalities, make them fully-rounded and three-dimensional. I feel like often times some of our most celebrated romances involve people who are just good-looking nice folk and not much else. Romeo and Juliet were a sad emo guy with a thing for teenagers and Juliet was a teenager, Cosette and whatever her guy’s name was were good-looking and nice but they weren’t much else, and Katniss Everdeen…okay, Katniss was at least well-rounded. You knew who she was, what her problems were, what she stood for, and what she was willing to do to overcome those problems. Her love interests, on the other hand, just seemed there so as to add something to the story that the story might have done fine without. I mean, Gale is just handsome and angry with the Capitol, and I can’t tell what Peeta is besides sweet. One minute he’s skillful enough to manipulate the hearts of the whole Capitol, the next he’s too naive to tell that Katniss is using him for survival. Make him one or the other! Seriously, if you’re going to bother putting love interests in the story, I’m going to need a reason to ship either of them besides their attractiveness and professions of love.
    And that brings me to my next point:

    It took a long time, but these two became a wonder couple.

  2. What’s the reason they fall for each other? Please don’t say, “Oh, they’re good-looking”, it’s got to be more than that…or heroin-flavored blood. Take one of my favorite anime of all time, Sailor Moon (yeah, I’m a huge fan of that even so many years on. Moonies forever!): all of the main characters are good-looking. So why does Sailor Moon end up with the male lead, especially when in every adaptation of the story they start out fighting and disliking each other and in some he’s already seeing someone else? Leaving aside backstory exposition, I think they just grow comfortable with each other over time. They realize they can be honest with each other and that their faults are just part of who they are. Cute parts too. And it helps when they find out each other’s secret identities, which shows how courageous and reliable they are to one another, to the point they make a pretty good partnership, in love and in combat.
    Another example I’d like to use is Captain America and Peggy Carver in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (which is my only reference point, I was never much of an American comic books reader for some reason). Heck, at the beginning of their relationship, Cap’s a scrawny guy who doesn’t seem like much of a hero, while Agent Carter is…well, Agent Carter. What forms the basis of their relationship is that Carter likes that Cap wants to help out despite all the barriers facing him, and his sweet and loyal personality, while Cap likes that she’s a unique and confident woman who doesn’t need a man and who also doesn’t look down on him for not being tall and buff. Over time and numerous battles, their relationship grows closer and they fall in love, which ultimately doesn’t end well but I’m sure that if things had gone differently, it would have been a different story.
    Speaking of which, here’s point 2a. Shared experiences, especially combat experiences, can bring a relationship closer. Unless of course you and your supposed lover work really horribly together, in which case fighting will just highlight it and you’ll fall apart at the seams.
  3. There is no point where the relationship becomes perfect. Work is involved. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about relationships in the real world, they’re always a work in progress. Why? Because we’re all works in progress, so our relationships are too. There’s going to be rough times, where the characters struggle or worry that something or someone will come along and the good thing they have going will be ruined. Back to Sailor Moon for a second. Fans agree that the heroine and her man are a strong and stable couple (though whether or not it’s a good coupling, I find people disagree on the subject more than you’d think), but they do have to work at it. Besides enemies that threaten to pull them apart for whatever reason, they have the normal couple troubles: people who seem like better matches coming along, occasional misunderstandings, an unexpected child. Heck, they even broke up for a time during the anime’s second season. Just goes to show that even great couples have ups and downs.
    And the best part is, you can extend these meetings, character explorations, falling-in-love scenes, and ups and downs over several books. In fact, half of the fun of the TV show Scandal is watching the heroine Olivia have an on-again, off-again relationship with the (married) President of the United States. You never know how that one is going to work out. And as long as you can keep it going, the more you get to explore these characters and their relationships (provided fans don’t start to get bored, of course).
    And now that we’ve discussed what makes for a relationship, let’s discuss some content.
  4. Sex is not always necessary. Yeah, I know we live in a hyper-sexualized society where everything has a sexy component to it, and I know I included a steamy sex scene in Snake, but seriously, sex isn’t always necessary. In fact, some people prefer romance stories without anything racier than a kiss or two. There’s actually an entire sub-genre of romance like that, it’s called sweet romance, where the characters don’t have sexual relations before marriage (or commitment too, maybe) and it has a big and loyal following. Besides, some authors aren’t comfortable with sex scenes. I know I wasn’t at first, though I later got more comfortable with them. So if you don’t want to do one, there’s no law saying you have to.

    Love the relationship dynamics of this show!

  5. Also, you don’t have to just have one person love only one other. I know there are a couple of Buffy fans reading this blog. One of the best parts of that show is the characters had many different relationships over the 7 seasons. Buffy herself had three major relationships over the course of the series.  The writers could’ve had her with Angel, her first love, through the whole series, but they allowed her, Angel, and many others to explore other relationships and really mature through that. Same with Teen Wolf, which had two main characters being “meant to be forever and ever”, but gradually changed things up over time. So if you want to, you can have characters wait a long time and go through several relationships before finding the right person.
    Especially with love triangles. I hear there are quite a few series out there where a good dose of fun is trying to find out who the main character will end up with in the end, especially when there’s two really great, fleshed-out characters to choose from (though usually from what I hear it’s whoever the protagonist meets first).
    And this brings me to my final point.
  6. Don’t do it because everyone else is. And no, that’s not a drug PSA (though you shouldn’t do those either. Not even weed, that stuff will mess with your system). Yeah, you see people putting all these different things in their stories–love quadrangles, the other man or woman, unexpected pregnancies, even some sexual exploration. Only put those in your story if you feel they’re what the story needs, not what others say you should put in or what others are putting into their stories. Believe me, that’s how I avoided something really unnecessary romance-related stuff in Reborn City, and that worked out great for me.

I’m going to end it right here, but I have to say, there’s a lot more that I could include in this post. Suffice to say, there are a lot of intricacies to writing romance and love stories (point number 7, a romance has a happy ending, a love story doesn’t have to. Learned that a romance writer friend of mine), and you learn these things over time. But hey, in the end they can lead to some really great stories, and maybe melt a heart or two while you’re at it.

What romance writing tips do you have? Do you feel romance is important to your stories or not so much?

Conversations with Dellani Oakes

Posted: October 1, 2015 in Author Interciew, Reflections, Writing
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It’s time for another author interview! This one is with a Facebook friend whom I’ve known for a couple of years now. And while what we write and how we write are very different, I’m glad to know her and I think she’s just terrific. She’s got a new book out and she’s got more on the way, apparently. I think we could all learn a thing or two from her.

Oh, and you’ve seen her name on the blog before. Remember that radio show I was on not too long ago? She’s the host. Ladies and gentleman, Dellani Oakes (hey, that rhymed!).

Welcome to my blog, Dellani. Tell us a little about yourself and what you write.

I’m an author of mostly romantic fiction. I have one historical romance, one retro-romance, three futuristic romances and three romantic suspense already published. My latest book, One Night in Daytona Beach, is an erotic romance, due out October 28th.

Many of my books are set here on the east coast of Florida, as I have lived here since 1989 and consider it to be my hometown. I may not be a Florida native by birth, but I am at heart. I think it’s impossible to live anywhere and not have it become a part of you.

What are some books you’ve written that you’d recommend?

Would I be awful if I recommended them all? It depends upon what you like:

Historical Romance set in Florida in 1739. Full of spies and intrigue – Indian Summer

Retro Romance set in Nebraska in 1976. Action packed thrill ride. – Under the Western Sky

Futuristic Romance/ Sci-Fi set in space in 3032, some hot romance, intrigue, action…. – The Lone Wolf Series – Lone Wolf, Shakazhan and The Maker

Romantic Suspense, all set in Florida in the present. Ice meltingly hot, each also features a fast paced suspense – Undiscovered, The Ninja Tattoo and Conduct Unbecoming

Erotic Romance. The genre and title say it all. Ultra hot, this is also a romantic suspense, which takes place in 24 hours – One Night in Daytona Beach

Each book has something different to recommend it. If you want exciting stories that make you laugh, cry and fall in love, then any one of them would be a good fit.

Good thing there’s quite a selection, then. What are you working on now?

I tend to hop around a lot when I write. From time to time, I am inspired and the story flows quickly, finishing as fast as I can type. Other stories come more slowly. I just finished a romantic suspense a few days ago, that I wrote in four days. I am currently working on book 3 in a YA series I started 3 years ago (not yet published).

What made you become a writer?

I never wanted to be anything else. Necessity sent me in different directions, but I always was compelled to write. I have told stories and written poems, songs, short stories and plays for as long as I can remember. I started writing my first novel in 1988, but it’s still unfinished. My first complete novel is my historical romance, Indian Summer.

You also run some online radio programs, including one I was on. Tell us about those.

It all started with April Robins. She came up with the idea of Red River Writers in 2007, a page on Facebook. I happened to join. Shortly after, author JD Holiday suggested that we begin shows on Blog Talk Radio interviewing one another and other authors. I hopped in as an assistant and was terrible at it. A couple other hosts left and April asked me to take over their show slots. Thus, Dellani’s Tea Time and What’s Write for Me were born.

Dellani’s Tea Time, 4:00 PM EST every second Monday of the month, was my first show. I wasn’t quite as bad at that as I was at assisting, and found I quite liked it. Things ran more smoothly once I brought on author Christina Giguere (Rachel Rueben) as my co-host. She keeps things running smoothly for me and is an absolute treasure.

What’s Write for Me was kind of an afterthought. We decided to add more shows to the schedule and we were asked to pick a day. I asked for the fourth Wednesday of the month (also at 4:00 PM EST) because I didn’t want shows back to back. (Though some months they are)

The shows are available, for free, to any author – or soon to be author. Best way to reach me is through Facebook. I also interview authors on my blogs.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

If I’m not writing, I’m reading. (I also admit to a terrible Netflix addiction) I enjoy re-reading books I love, as well as finding new ones to treasure. I also read and edit my own work. Once a week, I volunteer at the local Council on Aging where I facilitate a small writing group. It’s called Fun in Writing and we have a wonderful time. It’s a great way for older people to socialize and keep their minds sharp. I joke that most of my best friends are old enough to be my mother, but it’s true.

What is some advice you would give to other writers, regardless of experience or background?

Write the way that feels right. So many “how to” books will tell you that you must outline, plan carefully and draw up character sketches before you put pen to paper (or fingers to keys). I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to do that. There is no shame in just sitting down to write, often called pantsing (writing by the seat of your pants) by those who are supposedly in the know. (We panters call them plotters). I’ve been told that my way of approaching a story is inefficient, that I can’t possibly accomplish my goals as a writer if I don’t know where my story is going. According to the naysayers, I’m supposed to put all my creative energy into an outline. I beg to differ.

I have written books in as little as four days. I’m not talking about some 20,000 word novella (though I’ve done those as well), I mean a 54,087 word novel. That’s after I completed another novel for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writer’s Month) the day before, which was just over 50,000. (The Ninja Tattoo, available from Tirgearr Publishing). Tell me my way is inefficient, please!

Just to bring my point home, I’ve spoken to dozens of authors over the last few years and the majority of them write the way I do, rarely planning anything. There is absolutely nothing wrong with plotting and planning, but there’s nothing wrong with my way, either.

And finally, if you were stuck on a desert island and you could only bring three books with you, which three would you choose?

Oh, I hate this question, because I can’t think of only three books I’d want to have. Honestly, give me notebooks and pens so I can write my own. I will keep myself wonderfully entertained.

I’m seeing that response quite a lot these days. Well, thank you Dellani for joining us. Good luck with everything you do in the future.

If you would like to check out more about Dellani and her work, you can check out her blog, as well as Facebook and Amazon.

All for now. I’m going to try and get a few more interviews out, among other things, so look out for those. Until next time, my Followers of Fear!

Conversations with Barbara G. Tarn

Posted: September 29, 2015 in Author Interciew, Novel, short story, Writing
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It’s been quite a while since I’ve done an author interview, but hey, I’m glad when I have the chance to do one. Today’s interview is with someone else who’s work is being featured in When The Lights Go Out, which if you haven’t checked out I highly recommend you do.

Barbara G. Tarn prefers the term “world-creator”, which I can understand, seeing as she not only writes but does graphic novels and a few other things too. She’s lives in Italy, which I think is pretty cool, and she’s constantly working on something (boy, does that sound familiar). And apparently I know her husband, as do many other writers. Lots of interesting connections here. Her story in WTLGO is related to her upcoming novel, which sounds very interesting if you read the summary. And speaking from personal experience, her short story is pretty awesome as well.

So without further ado, let’s get into it!

Welcome to the show, Barb. What is your short story about and what inspired it?

The Return of the Crusader is historical fantasy. It’s Halloween – when it was still called All Saints Eve – in 1150 AD Lincolnshire and the lady of the manor is hoping her husband will come back from the crusade… which he does, but as a vampire.

This story was inspired by the fact that Miss Naylor [Joleene Naylor, who helped put together WTLGO] wanted a Halloween story and I thought it was a perfect day for someone to be turned into a vampire! So I wrote this “origin” story for Kaylyn, who is Rajveer’s sister-in-darkness, and next year I will write her full story. For now you can see her in Rajveer the Vampire, out Nov.1st.

I’m a middle ages lovers and my historical novel  The Fern and The Cross is still in the drawer since I’m not happy with it. But all the research I’ve done for it will be useful to tell Kaylyn’s story, from 1150 AD to the new millennium – out Nov.1st, 2016.

Tell us what else have you written?

Star Minds is a science fantasy series. Then there’s Silvery Earth, adult unconventional fantasy. All books are actually standalone in both series, but if you follow the chronological order, you might see a pattern. Both series have lots of LGBT characters. Urban fantasy – Samantha’s body switches – and other contemporary titles are also out now. You can find everything at the Unicorn Productions website (that’s a logo I’ve had since the 1990s, when I did photocopied b&w fanzines to sell at the Italian comicons)

Are you a traditionally or self-published writer?

Indie because I’m scared of the draconian traditional contracts. But I’m submitting short stories to traditional markets – and rejections are piling up. Although I did get a Honorable Mention at Writers of the Future (and then indie-published that novella).

Nice! What got you into writing in the first place?

I’m writaholic. I’m married to Mr Writing. I’m an introvert and hate spoken words. I’d rather be writing than hang out. Should I say more? Okay, I was uprooted at 13, so that kinda shut me off from the real world… That’s when I started writing stories!

What is it about scary stories that you think draw people in?

I don’t read (or write) many scary stories, so I have no idea…

That’s a shame. Now, are you working on anything these days?

Redrafting Daya (another vampire that appears in Rajveer’s novel – probably a novella that might come out maybe at the end of this year or the beginning of 2016)) and Beautiful (a “retelling” of Sleeping Beauty with m/m protagonists).

What is some advice you would give to other writers, regardless of their level of experience or background?

Heinlein’s business rules: 1) you must write 2) you must finish what you write 3) you must not rewrite unless by editorial demand (and I mean editor in New York if you have a traditional contract, not a hired freelance) 4) you must put it on the market 5) you must leave it on the market until sold (either trad or indie). Don’t look for perfection or you’ll be stuck in rewriting hell forever. If you must take a course, go to professional writers such as Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland or Dean Wesley Smith. I’ve taken online and offline classes at WMG Publishing – and I started writing back in 1978. Thing is… you never stop learning.

Finally, if you were stuck on a desert island and could only take three books with you, what would you take?

Aren’t we past this with e-readers? 😉 Without wi-fi the battery would last long enough to read more than three books! I don’t know, I don’t have favorite books at this time… I’d probably spend the time telling stories to myself that I might eventually write…

Thanks for joining us, Barb. If you would like to check out more of her work, head to her blog, Facebook, Goodreads, or Amazon page for more. And make sure to check out When The Lights Go Out or Rajveer the Vampire, out November 1st.

All for now. I’ve got a few more interviews coming up, so keep an eye out for those. You have a great day, my Followers of Fear!

“What’s Write For Me” is Tonight!

Posted: September 23, 2015 in Living and Life, Writing
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I’m writing this out quickly before the show starts. I’ll be doing an interview with Dellani Oakes at 4PM EST (or 10PM for me, hence why the title says “tonight”) on her online radio show “What’s Write For Me.” I’ll be reading an excerpt from Snake, answering questions, and just having a good time despite how late it is for me.

I hope you’re able to tune in for the show. If not, I’ll try and post the interview at some later point for you to listen to. Either way, here’s the link for the show.

See you in about half an hour, I guess. Wish me luck, my Followers of Fear!

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: September 18, 2015 in Novel, Scary Stuff, Writing
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It’s Friday again, and you know what that means! It’s #FirstLineFriday!

On Fridays, bloggers write a post titled like this one, hashtag and everything, and post the first one or two lines of a potential project, work-in-progress, or a completed or published work and ask your readers to give you their feedback. It’s a lot of fun, believe me.

Today’s entry is what could start out a novel I had the idea for last weekend. I don’t intend to write it anytime soon, but it’s fun to play around and think about what could end up starting it or what could end up getting into the novel when I finally do decide to write it.

Anyway, enjoy:

On the first Monday of the fourth month of our sophomore year, my friends and I made a suicide pact. Since then, there have been several times where I wish we had all followed through, rather than chickening out and letting what happened next happen.

Thoughts? Errors? Ways to improve? Let me know in the comments below.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going on a trip to Wewelsburg castle this weekend. The castle’s got a very interesting history, and I’m looking forward to exploring it (as well as taking lots of photos and writing a blog post about it when I get home).

Have a great weekend, my Followers of Fear! Until next time!

Twenty-Five Hundred Comments!!!

Posted: September 9, 2015 in Living and Life, Writing
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I’m pleased to announce that as of this morning I’ve passed another blogging milestone. I now have twenty-five hundred-plus comments on my blog. Thank you to Joleene Naylor whose comments on some of my most recent posts helped me get to this point this morning (check out her blog here by the way, because it is awesome).

I say this every time I reach a milestone, but I remember for the first year or so of this blog, I rarely got any views, maybe one or two every other day, if I was lucky. A comment was even rarer. At times I was tempted to shut down my blog. I had gotten into blogging to build an audience for my books, and yet I was finding it difficult to get anyone to read my work when it was free. What was the point?

But as time went on, I got better at blogging, I blogged more often, and more people started finding me.The number of people reading my posts grew, as well as the number of people subscribing, liking, and of course commenting on my blog. Do I have a ravenous fan base who is begging for my next book every second of the day? No, but I’m happy for the audience that I have and I think I’m getting there anyway.

Anyway, I’d like to thank everyone who has been helping me and supporting me this whole time. It means a lot to me and I can’t show my gratitude enough for how much you’ve helped me along these past four years. I hope that you continue to support me in the future as I work hard to become a great and terrifying (and possibly full-time) novelist.

Cheers!

#FirstLineFriday

Posted: September 4, 2015 in Novel, Writing
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It’s Friday again, so you know what that means! It’s #FirstLineFriday! Here are the rules if you don’t know them: on Fridays, you write a blog post titled #FirstLineFriday and write the rules down. You then post the first line or first two lines of a potential work, a work-in-progress, or a published story. Then you ask your readers to give their thoughts on the lines.

This week’s selection is from an idea for a novel I had earlier this week involving chimeras. I think it has potential:

Wes glanced up from the bed at Tommy, who was nervously grooming himself in the mirror. If tonight’s job goes well, Wes thought happily, I’m going to marry that man and we’re gonna hightail it out of this fucking city.

That probably wasn’t the beginning you thought it was going to be, was it? If so, good. I love defying expectations.

But what are your thoughts on this? Notice any errors I should fix? Does this seem like something you would read? Let me know in the comments below.

That’s all for now, my Followers of Fear. It’s almost the weekend, so the chances of me posting something this weekend are pretty high. Until then, have a good one!

On the Possible End of “Hannibal”

Posted: September 3, 2015 in Living and Life, Review, Scary Stuff
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It’s been one week since what could very well be the series finale as well as the third season finale of Hannibal, based on Hannibal Lecter and other characters created by Thomas Harris, premiered. NBC has declined to keep the show going, and while the show’s producers Bryan Fuller and Martha De Laurentiis, as well as series star Mads Mikkelsen and the many, many fans of the show (“Fannibals” or “Lecterites”, if you will), would love to see the show go on in some form, there is a chance that the show will have to hang up the carving knife and that everyone associated with it will have to move onto new projects.

Personally, I hope that the show is still able to go on, maybe as a feature film as Fuller has hinted at, or maybe moves to Starz or Amazon (though if it’s the former and not the latter I may have to wait till the show is on DVD or Netflix, depending on my financial situation). Also, I think it’s a good investment to keep the show going. Yeah, Hannibal has always been ratings-challenged, which is why NBC cancelled it in the first place. However, they knew a show focusing on a serial killer was a risk to begin with, and they still went with it for three years, as did huge legions of fans.

Why? Well obviously Hannibal Lecter is a famous character who was already well-known because of Harris’ novels, the movie Manhunter, and the three Anthony Hopkins films. But that only drew people to the show in the first place. The reason they stayed is because the show’s creators managed to take the concept of a serial killer show, and elevate it to art. Fuller and his team could’ve simply created a simple procedural show with serial killers like The Following with a famous literary and film character in the mix. Instead they built on that premise and made most of the sets exquisite to the eye, turned ordinary conversations into psychologically and philosophically engaging character explorations that could evolve into verbal tennis matches sometimes, and gave every shot a purpose in how it was filmed.

Add into all that the brilliant characters: Hugh Dancy as the socially-troubled empath profiler Will Graham, Lawrence Fishburne as the ends-justify-the-means, will-do-anything-to-catch-the-killers FBI director Jack Crawford, and of course the quiet gentleman devil with a love of grilling up those who are rude or offensive, Hannibal Lecter himself. Every character brings something to the table, making you want to watch them interact with each other right up until the very (sometimes bloody) end. And of course, the brilliant writing. Even at the show’s less exciting moments, the writers till were able to make you want to keep watching, to find out what happens next. From the growing relationship between Will and Hannibal in the first season, to the terrifying flash-forward at the beginning of the second season, and Will’s struggle to truly rid himself of Hannibal in the third season, it just kept you watching.

Hannibal is art. Creepy, bloody, psychologically strange and terrifying art, but it is art nonetheless, and that’s something you don’t usually see with television shows. I honestly can’t say if Hannibal will go on in some form or another (I’m not psychic), but if it doesn’t, at least we know that it had an ending that tied up most of the loose ends of the story, and the ones left behind we can easily guess at. And with streaming and DVD releases, fans could still watch it and relive the beautiful psychological horror that the show was.

Still, I hope for more. The show was awesome, and Fuller had a vision to continue the show, even if he couldn’t get the characters from Silence of the Lambs (I would’ve loved to see how they changed up Clarice Starling and Buffalo Bill, seeing as I found one annoying and the other slightly comical). If allowed to continue, we could see some award-worthy horror on our screens someday.

So while we wait and squirm and wonder at the show’s fate, I’ll continue to hope. Because if the story of the strange relationship between a man and a monster in a man’s skin can intrigue me and so many other people, then surely it can attract a TV executive or two. And the story that ended too soon won’t end at all.

Oh and NBC, why do you keep doing this to me?! First Dracula, then Hannibal? Stop cancelling these creepy genre shows I really like!

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