Hugh Fritz is pleased to introduce us to Anomaly Aftermath, the third novella in his Mystic Rampage series. He has also given us information about “Developing a Pitch for a Book-to-Film Adaptation," which we will all find very useful. Here's Hugh Fritz: “Developing a Pitch for a Book-to-Film Adaptation." by Hugh Fritz My books have been available publicly for a few years now and I’ve been considering future directions. It’s been described as a superhero novel so sometimes I investigate ways of adapting it into a comic book series or graphic novel. That hasn’t gained any traction because finding an artist has been challenging and even if I did find someone willing to collaborate, there would be red tape to go through with the publishing house. I still think it would be a fun idea, but it’s one that’s always on the back burner. Film adaptation is another option that’s been on my mind for a while. It started when I submitted Made to Be Broken to a contest called Book … [Read more...]
Get your heart racing with this book!
Choices is pleased to present the WOW! Women on Writing Blog Tour for: A Shadow of Love A Shadow of Love blog tour starts October 3rd and ends November 5th. Accompanying this tour announcement, author Amy S. Cutler has written an essay about writing a first draft. Something all of us authors work very hard to complete. Here's what Amy has to say: First draft process by Amy S Cutler Nicholas Sparks once said, “Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing. It’s one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period.” This is so, so true. There is no feeling like getting to the end. Even knowing the hours of revising and editing that is lurking around the corner, finishing the first draft is liberating. There are SO many ways to tackle a first draft. There are pantsers and plotters and everyone in between. Some people outline and plot out every and turn, organizing either in a document, through a software program just for … [Read more...]
A perfect October read
We are excited to announce the WOW! Women on Writing book blog tour with author Elizabeth Maria Naranjo and her book The House on Linden Way. The book is a ghost story with elements of horror and Gothic suspense - a perfect October read. Author Naranjo has shared her thoughts on novel writing. Here's her essay: 5 Tips for Getting Unstuck When Writing Your Novel by Elizabeth Maria Naranjo Writing a novel is a huge undertaking—it requires discipline, dedication, and heart. Yet no matter how much you prepare and how driven you are to succeed, at some point you’re going to get stuck. Here are five tips to jumpstart your creativity and get you through to the end Write by hand Facing a blank page is different from staring at a blank screen. On a page you can at least pretend you’re writing by scribbling, doodling, or drawing until your brain gets tricked into the process. With a screen you can’t do this, and there’s something about that blinking cursor that’s just … [Read more...]
Aviation author writes about Moral Fibre
Helena P. Schrader as written Moral Fibre, a story of just one bomber pilot, his crew, and the woman he loved, which I guarantee, you will also love. Please welcome her to Choices today while she's on her WOW! Women on Writing book tour. Helena has also written a guest post about writing and how your usual so-called finished product is really just your first draft. I too am certain about that. My historical novel, Papa's Shoes, went through ten drafts before I called it finished. Here's Helena: The Author and the Seven Drafts By Helena P. Schrader Writing a book is a lengthy process with many stages. Quite aside from the preparatory phases involving inspiration and research, the actual writing is also a multi-faceted process -- and writing "the end" on a manuscript for the first time is in many ways only the beginning. It is nothing but the first step towards turning a finished manuscript into a book ready for publication. Let me explain this in a … [Read more...]
What it takes to write a book
Getting my first novel published just over a year ago is undoubtedly the thing I’m most grateful for. That it wasn’t hard to find a publisher for it and that I found a wonderful illustrator to do the cover art also were part of that mix. However, the work leading up to it was hard and long. I started writing the novel in 2010 at a UCLA four-day workshop called How to Write Your First Novel. I decided to take that class to get away from the frustrations of trying to get my memoir published. I was querying like mad but nothing was working, so a change in pace was necessary. I already had an idea – taken from the life story my aunt wrote not long before she died. She wrote about a young man – actually a teacher – who took her to school plays and concerts when she was a senior in high school. When her brother – actually my father – found out he wasn’t Jewish, he made his family move to Chicago from their small town in mid Illinois so that she could find a nice Jewish man to … [Read more...]
Introducing Save the Cat®
Today we heartily welcome Save the Cat's WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING TOUR of Save the Cat! Structure Software and Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody. About Save the Cat!® Save the Cat! provides writers the resources they need to develop their screenplays and novels based on a series of best-selling books, primarily written by Blake Snyder (1957- 2009). Blake’s method is based on 10 distinctive genres and his 15 story beats (the Blake Snyder Beat Sheet). Our books, workshops, story structure software, apps, and story coaching teach you everything you need to unlock the fundamentals and mechanics of plot and character transformation. Find out more about Save the Cat! by visiting their website. About the Save the Cat Structure Software Save the Cat! Story Structure Software is adapted from the Save the Cat! methodology to help screenwriters and novelists unlock the fundamentals of plot and character transformation. The Story Structure Software is a virtual writer … [Read more...]
We welcome Linda Rosen while on her WOW! book blog tour
Linda Rosen, author of The Disharmony of Silence, is on Day 10 of her WOW! Women On Writing book blog tour. Choices is pleased to welcome her and her thoughts about how being outdoors helped inspire her creative self. I know the feeling. I walk outdoors a lot - especially to the beach - and I always welcome ideas the eventually become part of my creative material. Here's what Linda has to say: Get Outdoors, Inspire Your Creative Self by Linda Rosen Why is it that I always come up with great dialogue while swimming laps with the sun glistening on the water? No, I’m not talking to myself out loud. Swimmers nearby would wonder about my sanity. It’s my characters who are talking to each other, in my head, and sometimes even arguing. Simply gliding through the water, hearing its soft splash as my hand reaches forward and slips down into the aqua pool, completing a stroke, relaxes my mind and when the mind is clear, creativity flows. One doesn’t have to swim to create gems. … [Read more...]
What is historical fiction?
So many people―especially family members―who have read my new historical novel, Papa's Shoes: A Polish shoemaker and his family settle in small-town America, have asked how much of it is true, I've written the piece below to hopefully provide a coherent answer. A simple answer is there is a little of both in my novel. However, even though the character's were inspired by real people and real events, I have audaciously fictionalized their lives. Fact vs Fiction: What in my novel, Papa's Shoes, Is True and What Is Fiction? by Madeline Sharples The characters in Papa's Shoes are fictional though they were inspired by real people in my family. However, the period of time when they lived and locations where they lived are derived from real historical data. So, in my mind, there is a very fine line between fact and fiction―it is definitely not one or the other. With that I think I’ve complied to some rules of historical fiction that I’ve recently read: “Historical fiction is a … [Read more...]
Linda Lee Kane is our Choices guest today
Linda Lee Kane, author of fantasies, thrillers, and contemporary fiction works, joins us today while on her WOW! Women on Writing virtual book tour to celebrate the re-release of The Black Madonna A Pope's Deadly Obsession. Before discussing her intriguing book, Linda shares about her life as a writer and some advice about how to publish our writing. Life as a Writer by Linda Lee Kane The same commitment you brought to writing your novel will be critical when facing the publishing world. For beginning writers, the publication can be a difficult path. The steps to publication involve finding an agent, working with an agent to sell your novel to a publisher, working with a publisher to prepare your book for launch, and marketing your book. This process can take years. Self-publishing is another option. You’ll cut out the agent and publisher, and produce and sell a book on your own. It may be a quicker route to publication, but it still requires a lot of work. In either case, … [Read more...]
Should we write fiction about real people?
I'm excited to have Cindy Fazzi here today while she's on her WOW! Women on Writing virtual book tour. She discusses her new book My MacArthur and how to write fiction about a famous person. I love this subject matter so much that she's inspired me to find a famous person to write about too. Perhaps a dead famous person like she did. Here's Cindy! Three Tips on Writing Fiction about a Famous Person By Cindy Fazzi Writing a novel about a real person is difficult—the more famous the person, the greater the challenge. Writing about Douglas MacArthur, an iconic World War II general, was certainly not easy, especially because I focused on a little-known love affair he had with Isabel Rosario Cooper, a Filipino actress. Here are a few things I learned from my experience writing my historical novel, My MacArthur. 1. Choose your subject well; remember that you can’t defame the dead. Under American law, the party who claims that he or she was defamed may file a lawsuit. Obviously, a … [Read more...]
Our guest today is Mary Maurice. Welcome!
I'm happy to host Mary Maurice today, author of Burtrum Lee, a scientific mystery, during her WOW! Women on Writing blog tour. Also, Mary has shared her thoughts on "keeping readers engaged," especially for our Choices readers. Thanks so much, Mary, for your interesting ideas for engaging your readers. Keeping Readers Engaged by Mary Maurice First and foremost, I try to get the reader's attention with a good title, and then I reel them in with a semi-hypnotic rhythm, while making sure that there are no stump-words. (words that are complicated, making the reader stop and go over the sentence again, losing the momentum that you're trying to achieve). Speaking from experience, when I come upon a word I have to think about, most times I set the book down soon after, and sometimes never return to it. Simplicity is a key, as well as colorful and spicy words. I have a box of Crayola's on my desk which I use for descriptive detail, as well as fruit colors, and anything else to … [Read more...]
Three things
First. This is the last day the Kindle edition of my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide, will be on sale for $.99. So please grab your copy before midnight. Here's what a few reviewers had to say about it: ...Leaving the Hall Light On left me in tears. It is a heart wrenching book; I could not put it down. Anyone who wants to learn how to live with children or adults with bipolar disorder, must read this book. ...I could imagine that this book might be helpful for those dealing with bipolar disease or suicide in the family, but for those of us fortunate enough not to have yet experienced those problems, it also provides a very real look into how good but human people deal with the cruelty of fate. ...Suicide does not just end one life, it can destroy others. Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide is the story of … [Read more...]
Novel successes and woes
I've been glued to my chair working on my novel for months: writing new scenes, converting dialogue into inner monologues, changing tense from present to past, creating new chapters where three asterisks indicated breaks in the text, and generally editing as I went through it over and over again. A little bit about my new scenes* process: I marked up my manuscript to indicate where (with page number) a new scene was needed and what the scene should consist of. I highlighted that marker in yellow. I then copied the marker and pasted it in a new document called New Scenes. I created the new scenes in the New Scenes document without touching my original manuscript. When I finished creating the scenes I edited them several times to make them as mature as my original manuscript, already in its eighth draft. Then I merged the scenes into the manuscript, starting from the end of the book, so I wouldn't mess with the page numbers And as I copied and pasted the … [Read more...]
How my novel is progressing
I haven't written about my work on my novel for quite some time. So, I thought I'd bring you up to date. Yes, you're right. I'm still working on it after all these years about seven at least. However, I think I'm finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. After all, I'm working on draft number eight. A few months ago, I hired an editor to do an assessment critique, and after a thorough reading, he provided me with ten pages of single-spaced notes, with many rewriting assignments. Before I embarked on any of it I asked him to honestly tell me if I should put the book on a shelf and forget about it, or keep on working. He suggested I keep working, and that's what I'm been doing. For the last several weeks I've been working steadily to accomplish the editor's suggestions. And while I work on the novel, I totally ignore social media of every kind. That was hard at first, but it gets easier with time. The first thing I did was abide by the editor's suggestion to change … [Read more...]
Review of Ronald Chapman’s A Killer’s Grace
I'm pleased to have read and written a review of Ronald Chapman's book A Killer's Grace in time for his WOW!Women on Writing virtual book tour. Today, September 1, is the publication of the book's second edition. As you'll read, A Killer's Grace is a wonderful work. I hope you'll all get your copy (see the links below). You won't be disappointed. *** My Review of A Killer's Grace A letter from a serial killer awaiting execution changes New Mexico reporter Kevin Pitcairn's life. His investigations into the content of the letter drag him into his own dark past, that of a never-convicted murderer and an alcoholic. His journey draws the readers of A Killer's Grace by Ronald Chapman into the doors of Alcoholics Anonymous and the close relationships Pitcairn made there, his love for Maria Elena who stays by his side even when she disagrees and fears his involvement with the serial killer's story, how walking with his dog companions in the early morning hours calms him after nightmares … [Read more...]
Memoir or fiction? That is the question!
David W. Berner, my WOW! Women on Writing guest today, and I have something in common. After writing memoir we both turned to fiction stretching ourselves, as David says, as writers. We both took a true story, settings, and characters and made up things let our imagination have its way with us to enhance the story's effect. My fiction book though not ready to be published yet takes off in a whole new direction from the true facts. My family members would definitely know the people and places I write about, and might even have a problem with the way my fictionalized version of our family history turns out. Well, I'll deal with that when the time comes. I applaud David for using his wonderful memoir, reporting, and teaching skills to become a successful fiction writer. His first fiction work: Night Radio: A Love Story, has already received rave reviews. Thank you, David, for being here at Choices today and telling us about your journey into fiction writing a story I very much … [Read more...]
Theep and Thorpe – what a great title!
When my Facebook friend, Lillian Nader, announced the release of her book Theep and Thorpe, the title so intrigued me I had to learn more. With that I asked her to be my Choices guest and tell our readers how she conceived and wrote her new book. Thank you, Lillian, for accepting. I'm so pleased to introduce you and your book here. My BIG Announcement! by Lillian Nader I am so happy to announce the release of my book, Theep and Thorpe: Adventures in Space, on March 25, 2016. It is available now in paperback at Amazon.com. It's a book for young readers and for those who are young at heart. The kindle version will also be available soon. The Story Behind the Story. The concept of Theep and Thorpe began many years ago when my artist friend, Angelo Divino, created images of two space beings. I asked if I could write about them and he said yes! Their names came to me first as I pondered the idea of how space beings might communicate. I decided they would know one another by their … [Read more...]
My Choices guest today is: Jennifer-Lynn Keniston
My Choices guest today is Jennifer-Lynn Keniston, author of Afta-U. Here she tells us how she balances the fear and thrill of writing dark novels. Like Jennifer-Lynn, I believe that balance is the key to success in all our live's undertaking. I welcome Jennifer-Lynn, and I wish her huge success in all her writing. How to leave the rollercoaster of emotions on the page/computer screen when stepping away from writing a dark novel by Jennifer-Lynn Keniston As a child, I could ride all the rides in an amusement park including the big rollercoasters with daring declines and twisting turns. From what I can recall, a rollercoaster ride can be both thrilling and terrifying. When I sit down to write more dialogue and piece together a dark novel, it is like I am sitting on an amusement park rollercoaster all over again. And I'm hoping I haven't eaten too much cotton candy and fried dough before the ride starts. Emotions begin to battle one another. Now a days though, I have vertigo so I … [Read more...]
