Rewriting

Aside from writing and going to graduate school, I work as an editor. I recently edited a short story that I think is the first one this particular author has published. After sending my recommended changes the author e-mailed me back and said they usually didn’t do anything beyond a first draft.
Now, I can relate to this author. I have the most fun when then words are pouring out of me, when I am on a “Creative High”, so to speak. Aside from that, I typically feel that my first effort is pretty good. But let us be honest. A rough draft has been named that because it is rough. And once the creative high has ended we can see there is a lot of work to do.
Over the past few years I have learned to love the rewrite. Well, love might be too strong of a term, but I have come to respect the rewrite, at least. The obvious reason for this respect is that it offers me a chance to be better the second time around (don’t we wish life worked like that). The first thing I try to do is clean up my bad prose. I hate to admit it just as much as the next writer, but we all have over-written sentences and melodramatic dialogue. If it makes our skin crawl, just imagine what it will do to a reader!
But the most important reason we need to re-write is that we never know what is important in a story until the bitter end. It almost doesn’t make sense, but how can we gauge what is important to the story until we have an ending. And even with the best laid out plots we really don’t know the ending until we reach it.
Love it. Like it. Loathe it. All writers need to embrace the need to re-write their stories.

Jen Bokal

Tools I Can't Live Without

As an author writing in this modern era of readily available technology, I have come to rely on several tools which make my life a whole lot easier. These are the top:

Television - PBS, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, the History Channel. Historical research can be accomplished the easy way via watching the quality programs on these channels.

Online etymology dictionary – any author of historical romance simply MUST check out this site (http://www.etymonline.com/), or something similar. Too often newbie authors make the mistake of using modern terminology (which to me is an unforgivable sin). When in doubt, check out the origin of any word that sounds remotely modern.

Adobe Acrobat - and its Read Out Loud feature. As an author, one of the best ways to determine if a manuscript makes sense and sounds good to a reader is by talking it through – this new feature does it for you. Totally cool!

Google – the search engine for general research, Image Results to find actors on which to base my character’s physical attributes, Alerts for keeping track of any searches on my name or books, Analytics for stats on my website, and Book Search on my site so anyone can search the contents of my books. Google can tell me if there's already another book with the title I have tentatively chosen, I also love Let Me Google That For You for those too lazy to do their own searches. Check it out – lotsa fun and oh, so appropriate in so many circumstances.

Social networking sites – these are invaluable ways to create interest and generate traffic to your blogs. After all, the major factor in being a successful author is the loyal following you enjoy.

Email calendar – the only way I can keep up on scheduled author chats, blog posts, etc. is to keep them in my Email software calendar. It reminds me the minute I turn on my computer that I have an event scheduled.

These days satellites make retrieving information and keeping in touch so much easier. Although I started writing decades ago, I can barely remember what it was like to use a word processor and actually have to go to the library and make handwritten notes.

So – here’s a toast to technology and the way it makes the life of an author easier!

Candace Morehouse
www.candacemorehouse.com

Review for Investment of the Heart - You Gotta Read Reviews

As much as authors love their stories, validation by others means a great deal. It was such a pleasure to receive this review from You Gotta Read Reviews.

Title: Investment Of The Heart
Author: Linda LaRoque
Publisher: Champagne Books
Rating: You Gotta Read
Reviewed by: Roberta

Widow Hallie Barron wants her daughter happily married to the young rancher she loves. When Simon Cole enters Hallie’s life she’s reminded she’s a woman with needs and desires. She yearns for a love like she once had, but fears risking her heart.Rancher Simon Cole doesn’t feel that city women belong on a ranch. He’s set to prove his nephew’s fiancée is a mistake. Yet when he meets her mother, he finds himself wishing there was a place for Hallie in his life.On a ranch in the Hill Country of Texas, love is recognized, lost, and found.

This is not just your everyday western romance love story. The author has touched on issues that a lot of authors run from such as, death of a spouse, forgiveness, blended families, and a few more issues you can discover on your own. She has created characters with love, compassion, strength, stubbornness, and humor. There are characters you will love, and some you will love to hate. By the time you get to the end of this story, you will be searching for other books by this author. You will not be disappointed in this story.

I hope you'll visit my website at http://www.lindalaroque.com/ and enter my contest. Details can be found on the NEWS page. Entries must be in by midnight May 31st CST.

Thanks for reading!

Linda
Linda LaRoque ~ Western Romance with a Twist in Time~
Forever Faithful, Investment of the Heart, When the Ocotillo Bloom, 7-09, Champagne Books; A Law of Her Own, Desires of the Heart, My Heart Will Find Yours, Flames on the Sky 10-23-09 from TWRP.
http://www.lindalaroque.com/
http://lindalaroqueauthor.blogspot.com/

Heard a good book lately?

It is one thing to read a good story. Quite another to listen to it - for it almost becomes a movie if handled right. The characters truly come alive, and the settings take on new meaning with each inflection of the reader's voice.

This fascinating process is about to happen to Blade Dancer, my first novel that garnered a 2009 Eppie Finalist nomination right out of the gate. I can't wait to hear Mikial and Paleen banter back and forth, or hear the torn emotions in Mikial's words as she faces off with her own family over a changing world. Thanks to both Champagne Books and Audible.com, my science fiction story will truly come alive.

Here's the difference between having something like a Kindle II narrate in a computerized monotone and having a paid actor recite your work - emotion. These folks don't just sit there and read, they push themselves into the role. It is the difference between watching a play and being told second hand of one. Not the same.

So, if you haven't got time to read a good book, perhaps you have time to listen to one. Mikial can start griping in your head for once.

Kerry
www.kmtolan.com

SEDUCING ANNIE

I first met Jared and Annie Spencer a few years ago in 1848 or '49. Back then, speculation about their hasty marriage had been rampant. Teary-eyed socialite maidens had wailed, "It can't be true!" while irate Mamas wished they'd given their daughters better advice. "Obviously," they'd cattily insisted, "Annie, a nobody with no name or wealth used the seduction ploy to trap Philadelphia's most eligible bachelor." I knew better. Anyone with a good pair of eyes could see that theirs was a true love match. Though why they had tried to hide it—even from each other—was a puzzle to me.

Had the Spencers found their proverbial happily-ever-after? After all they'd been through, they certainly deserved it. Curiosity drove me to add this final stop before I returned home to Europe. As I neared the large brick townhouse, my footsteps faltered. What was I thinking? It was the height of rudeness to just drop by without sending round a message and waiting for a reply. Lifting the brass knocker, I let it fall lightly. If the butler didn't answer...

The door jerked open in the midst of an angry, "Where have you been? I've been..." followed by a disappointed, "Oh, it's you."

I'd forgotten how intimidating Jared could be. "If this isn't a good time, I could..."

Stepping outside, he glanced up and down the street then all but shoved me inside. "When did you return?"

"This morning." No small talk, that was Jared Spencer's way. "How's your broth..."

"Phillip's fine."

Interrupting was another one of his quirks. "And your grandmoth..."

"Granny's still gambling and still winning." A small grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. He ushered me into the study.

After several minutes of a stilted conversation, Jared jumped up from his chair and stalked from the room. I hadn't heard anyone enter the house but apparently Jared had. "Where have you been?" boomed from the foyer.

"Don't you dare take that tone with me, Jared Spencer. You don't know what I've been through."

"What happened, dearest?"

A lengthy explanation followed with Jared inserting a sympathizing word here and there. I couldn't help grinning. In the time I'd been gone, Annie seemed to have tamed the beast and wrapped him around her little finger.


Read an excerpt from SEDUCING ANNIE at the author's website; www.roselerma.com
Save money and a tree; buy ebooks.

Anyone up for a BOOKaction this summer?

Last summer we heard about Stay-cations, staying at home because the price of gas was way too high. I must say that a week ago I paid $2.33 a gallon and this morning I saw a sign for $2.73 -- forty cents in a week and only the start of summer. This year people are staying home because they just can't afford to go away.

Me, I don't travel overnight because I'm pretty reclusive in the first place and my kitty Molly is 21 and needs sub-q fluids twice a day. It's important to me to take care of her so I'm taking a BOOK-cation. That would be several months kicking back and reading some of the really good offerings out there. With ebooks you can pick up three or four for the price of a paperback and take your reader everywhere with you. I know I do--in line at the grocery, waiting for the bus in the morning--handy for a novella like Phyllis Campell's Kisses of Fire. For longer reads I prefer one of Michael Davis' suspenses but they work just as well on my e-reader.

My own Champagne title, America's Hero is available for the Kindle and in print depending on your preference and actually, America's Hero does offer the chance to travel a bit. What's your preference? To see the walls of Troy the night before the famous horse arrived, to find out if it really was the Earp brothers who shot and killed the McLareys at the OK Corrall (my alternative history says it was Josie Marcus), or would you like to go up in the space shuttle.

Thinking about doing my summer vacation through reading books of different times and places reminds me of The Phantom Toll Booth. Who of us who grew up in the U.S. didn't read that story -- a young man goes on all kinds of adventures and learns he can continue to have them whenever he wants through books.

And the really cool thing about a book-cation? You can take it anytime, day or night, all year long and never visit the same place twice.

Happy reading!

The Purging

Michael W. Davis

Davisstories.com

I just finished my fifth novel and I’ve noticed a trend lately. Once I completed each of the last three I was drained, I mean mentally exhausted. At first, I ignored it and jumped right back into my dungeon, but with my last story I was ready to burn my keyboard. It concerned me until I realized the cause. It’s a complex combination of things I’ve not encountered before in my prior career as an analytical modeler for the intel and defense industry. Sure, there were times before when I focused my energies on a special project or solving a crisis situation (like after 9/11 when the sleepers awoke and finally realized we were under threat), but it wasn’t the same as putting pen to paper for 90,000 words of fiction that will envelope the reader and won’t let them go. Men, that’s rough.

So what exactly is it that whips you to a pulp? Well, for me it’s three things:

(1) the continual isolation from everyone and everything else in my life, and I can’t help it. I can’t write for an hour and walk away. When the story is burning in my mind its like a wildfire racing to the last piece of unburned fuel and I just try to keep up.

(2) Creating romantic suspense, at least to me, is a moving experience. Yet, sure, I’m a big dude but the reality and gut wrenching nature of many of my scenes really shakes me to the core. In my last story (SHADOW OF GUILT) their were places I became so ripped, I had to go out and split wood.

(3) Lack of a purging period. That’s right, even us guys get burned out. I realized with the last three novels I had not taken a break and my brain finally balked.

So what do you do to refresh your muse? I’ve learned I need to take an unplanned trip somewhere, anywhere, without my keyboard, only my mate. And it works. About a month ago, after I finished two back-to-back novels and a short story, I grabbed the bag and my mate and we took off for the outer banks of NC. I was going to add a few pictures of the beach at Morehead, Fort Macon near Beaufort and New Bern with all its little shops (the wife loved that place), but Blogger kept giving me problems. Point is, I did feel refreshed when I returned, and as long as I don’t watch the news to see how the politicians are messing up our country, I am now chilled, at least till I have to hit the road again and take another purging trip.

Till next time.

Michael Davis (Davisstories.com)
Author of the Year, 2008

Blind Consent, “The answers are buried in the secrets of the past.”
Forgotten Children, “Only Sara knows the truth.”
Tainted Hero, “Sometimes good people do bad things.”
The Treasure, “A lonely heart can impair one’s judgment.”
Veil of Deception, “Sometimes the truth cuts deeper than a lie.”

May Writing Prompt - Well, Well, Well

Certain images are always associated with specific genres. When I see a well, I think 'western romance' or 'fairytale'. It is a fun stretching exercise to try to use a well in a city-set contemporary romance (like the novels I write).

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"It is a portal to another dimension," Carl, her client, stood up and announced. "If you seal the portal off, you doom the earth to total alien domination."

"Sit. Down," Beth gritted out between clenched teeth. The middle-aged man took one glance at her, and gulped. His butt smacked the seat.

As well it should. She was about ready to walk. Yes, the mentally challenged deserved fair representation but lately she wondered if she should be that representation.

"Portal to another dimension, Mr. Vega? Yesterday, it was the home of water elves." Derick, her opponent, chuckled openly. Chuckled. In court. "Which is it?"

As if it mattered. Derick was simply making trouble. "It's on private property. What my client believes the well to be makes no difference to the case."

"I disagree, Miss Smith. If the well is a portal to another dimension, the Department Of Homeland Security should be involved. We don't know how many people," a pause, his blue eyes dancing, "or aliens have been using it to enter the country illegally." His lips twitched. "It's a matter of national interest."

Oh, lord. She was never going to hear the end of this.

"Of course." His dark head tilted. "If the well is being used to house water elves..."

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I KNOW you can do better than that. Share your best story start.

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All buildings in Kimber Chin's contemporary treasure hunt romance Invisible have running water (and not just a nearby river). To read more and to enter to win her favorite romance eBook of the month, visit http://businessromance.com/

The Eyes Have It

Strange how we take our vision for granted until something happens to disturb it in some way. Like most other people, that's what I did until I was forced to face the fact I don't see as well as I used to, and glasses won't help. But I've had treatment and it may improve.
Facing this made me think about other things in life we take for granted--relationships, jobs, economy, the status quo of the multitude of facets in our lives. Until something happens and we're confronted with a disruption that affects us personally.
Thinking about it isn't action, so I'm trying to stop rushing through life as though trying to reach a prize at the end.
I feed the birds--finches, mostly, but also chickadees, sparrows, humming birds--and even the doves that come to eat the spilled seed on the ground. Chipmunks and both red and gray squirrels as well. And I take time to watch them.
I contact old friends who no longer live near me in order to keep up a connection we both enjoyed. I've never been a telephoner, so I use email and snailmail to keep closer touch with relatives as well.
Age limits gardening, but I can handle four rhubarb plants. For the rest, I plant bulbs every fall so we have a more colorful spring.
But nothing limits the attention I can focus on my life partner. Or relatives and friends who live in my community. Or the fact that I'm capable of teaching a writing class this summer. When I told the librarian I was interested in doing that he all but hugged me. He's been trying to find someone to do that for years. Because I can't be completely sure of my schedule, I've put off volunteerting at the local museum. But when I offered to come in when I was able to and sort through the huge number of stored items and catologue them , I was greeted with open arms.
I even spend more time either brushing or playing with with Kinko, our calico grandcat.
I can do all of this and still write. Writing is like breathing to me. I need to do it. But the other things I now try to do don't really take away from my writing time. It amazes me that I once thought they would.
I guess the "Better later than never" adage applies here. Jane

It’s here!

The cover for Betraying Chase arrived and I have to admit I LOVE IT!!! Now I’m more excited than before about July!

It was nice to get some good news because we were the latest casualties in our economic crisis times. My husband was advised he no longer has a job a few weeks ago. Panic hit hard and fast at the initial announcement—for me anyway. I was freaking out completely. Oh my god, what are we going to do about health care, insurance, house payments, braces, etc…etc…etc…until I had made myself ill. Literally. I managed to be so ill I couldn’t eat, sleep or be far from my rest room. When I pulled out of the tail spin I had also managed to catch a flu virus.

So, when I was finally well enough to look at my emails and found the book cover…well, let’s just say I couldn’t quit smiling!

Check it out and tell me if you don’t think it’s great?!?!?!?!

Isn’t it amazing?!?!

Now, it Dh would just get a phone call about a job our life could go back to normal…

With him being home my writing has suffered immensely. I can’t focus when he’s home. To be truthful it’s hard for me to concentrate when anyone’s home but with DH it’s worse. He doesn’t comprehend the whole I need to be left alone to work thing. His timing is perfect. I’ll be in the middle of a great scene and be writing away then he’ll step up behind me and stand there---and stand there---and stand there… Finally he’ll cough or clear his throat and say, “When you can stop I (insert his need/want/wish/complaint).” This of course throws a monkey wrench into my flow and I have to stop to listen to him spout. By the time he’s through it takes me an hour or more to get back into things…which he invariably interrupts AGAIN.

I understand his frustrations. I try to be supportive and patient but there are times when I’d just like to smack him upside the head and say “Shut up and get out!” Instead I smile sweetly, and let him be in the way.

Lord, I hope he finds a new job soon. Not just because of the obvious financial reasons but also because life insurance doesn’t pay out for murder…and if he doesn’t get out soon, I may end up killing him!

I hope the rest of you are having great days, easy weather and happy news!

Good luck and best wishes!
Donica

When things come together...

I know the rest of you authors can relate.

There's nothing like the feeling I get when working on a story, in this case, a series, and things fall beautifully into place as I do my research. For instance, while working out plots for all 7, possibly 8, books, I had an idea about a struggling sculptor creating her perfect man, life-sized and in the image of "The Thinker"... to just sit pretty in her bedroom, you know, for her eyes only. Unfortunately--or fortunately--depending on how you look at it, things don't always work out the way we plan, especially in the world of paranormal romance. *VBEG* Well, as these books are about demons/hell & vengeance, I studied Dante's "Divine Comedy"and low and behold, found THE book on the clearance rack at the bookstore complete with illustration and English translation--A-W-E-S-O-M-E book and a great buy!!!! Who-hoo...okay, so, back to "The Thinker" and my hero, who has since been donned "Dante"....

Some of you may know this, however, I didn't...

While researching the art of sculpting and "The Thinker", I learned that the piece was originally called "The Poet" and was made in the image of Dante himself, suppose to be looking down into the 9 circles of hell....gave me chills!!

I've been lucky to experience this type of wonder throughout my writing endeavors and, for me, it's a reward only an author could appreciate!

How about you...? Care to share your experiences?

Until next time, happy reading...and writing! ;)
Angie

http://www.angelaashtonbooks.com/
http://www.champagnebooks.com/

Available titles:

Amulet of Fate
Once A Rebel, book 1 in the Orphan Train series (Winner of the 2008 Golden Rose Award for Best Historical Romance!)
Corsair Cove

Releasing My Inner Bitch

've always been a glass half full sort of person. Even when I felt like the odds were stacked against me, I managed to reach deep down and find something positive to take away with the experience. Today, however, I'm gonna rant.

Romance sometimes gets a bad rap in other venues. Television commercials, movies, sitcoms and cartoons regularly take a stab at bodice rippers. We cringe but we carry on with the knowledge that the romance industry is strong. Even through the current financial crisis, Harlequin has reported yet another strong quarter. Dissention can also come from within the ranks of the industry.

Recently, a reviewer I had respected in the past decided she didn't like my latest publisher. She cited questionable business practices and shoddy editing, among other problems. These concerns were no different from any other startup publisher. With any new business, there are growing pains.

The reviewer felt this new publisher exhibited too much confidence and bravado. She reviewed one of their books and tore it apart with glee. True, the book wasn't the usual fare – from the excerpts, I thought it was satirical rather than true romance.

The thread started to look more like a hockey brawl than a romance blog. Insults were flung about, everyone jumped into the fray and any attempt at decorum was shot down in an instant.

In an attempt to offer an alternate example from this publisher, I emailed the reviewer with an offer to read my book. She accepted it but didn't review it. Instead, she Twittered phrases from it and had a good laugh over it, along with her twitter pals.

At first, I was appalled. My feelings were hurt. I suppose I should have been grateful this was not a public review, but it still stung. Since then, I had a chance to cool down, but other authors are being treated in the same manner only because they are published with someone this reviewer doesn't like.

The situation reminds me of horse racing. When a rookie trainer extols the virtues of her horse, media and fans may be skeptical, but they don't tear apart the trainer. If the horse happens to stumble coming out of the gate, the fans don't jeer. Why should they?

Reviews, good and bad, come with the territory. If a reviewer gives a poor score, she can point out the flaws in a diplomatic manner. After the initial sting, the author can learn from a bad review and make her next book better.

Publishers also learn from criticism. All of my publishers have made improvements through the last couple of years and I admire them for listening to concerns and making adjustments. Technology evolves quickly, and the publishing industry must adapt along with it.

My beef is that when a reviewer goes out of her way to ridicule a work and doesn't offer a speck of encouragement, she isn't doing the author or herself any favours. The world notices how members of the romance industry conduct themselves, and this situation looks like a step backward.

Authors, readers and reviewers should support each other. This is not a horse race. Winning will not be sweeter if there's a spill in the far turn. We're all in this together, yadda, yadda.

Yeah, I know… one bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, but I didn't particularly enjoy taking a bite outta that apple.

New Kindle vs. My Acer Aspire

I'm one of those people who started out with the old Windows 3.1 on a Pentium. Man did I think that Pentium was fast compared to the whatever it was my boyfriend had, even using voice recognition. Of course with planned obsolence and the ever improved computers I moved on to whatever my desk top is along with Windows XP. It's almost 10 years old and still works pretty darn well. But along the way I had to pick up a lap top -- let's hear it for mobility! It went pretty much everywhere with me but not quite so much as everywhere I bring my Acer Aspire these days.

I bought my Acer back in February and this little two pound notebook is just the coolest piece of equipment I've ever owned -- next to my latte machine that is. Coffee always comes first. It fits in my purse (the Acer), has 160 gigs of space, XP, wifi enabled, Word Suite, Adobe - you name it, it's got it. And fast! Zipping fast. I write on the bus on the way to work in the morning, read on the way home at night and it's all in one neat little package that actually cost less than the Kindle.

Which brings me to the new Kindle. By time Amazon came out with the first version of the Kindle I'd already used my Franklin Ebookman for years and moved on to my Palm Tungsen E. What was nice about the Palm was I could make little notes in the text with it. The Kindle didnt really catch my attention first because of the price and second because all you could do was read on it.

Kindle 2 looked kind of interesting - but all you can do is read on it. No notes and sometimes you want to make a note -- like flipping over a page on a particulary good passage in a print book.

So Kindle 3 is supposed to be bigger - more like a trade paperback -- but still kind of pricey. I looked at it, it's interesting....but I'm not so sure it can compare with my Acer. For the same weight and less money I'm trying think think why anyone would want just a reader when they could have something they can write, go on line AND read on?

Is anyone thinking of picking up the Kindle 3? What do you think makes it a "must have"?

Speak Up!

One item that I see crucified in most new writer’s work is the usage of dialogue. There’s a right way to do it, and a wrong way. Unfortunately, I see far more of the latter when critiquing newer writers' work.

The trouble is, I know exactly why it happens. We teach new writers to focus on spelling and grammar, and the use of proper English when they write. This would instantly bring a new writer to believe it holds true for dialogue as well.

But it would be a lie to say it does. At least not completely.

Writing is all about realism, believability and immersing the reader into your world. Certainly, a reader is going to be thrown off if your work is rife with errors and the like. This isn’t to say that you can get away with whatever you’d like when it comes to dialogue. However, when it comes to writing conversations, a little bit of finesse will go a long way. Dialogue is fluid, it doesn’t restrict itself to formalities most of the time, and most (and best) of all, it moves rapidly.

Imagine if I wrote the following:

As if he could read my mind, Crillian looked at me with his eyes glazed over. “Aston, you’re terribly out of shape. As much trouble as you’re having carrying me, you obviously need to exercise more.”

I spoke amongst labored breaths. “I don’t have time to exercise, and where would I get the space on my ship to put any equipment?”

Juniper was almost as out of breath as I was. “This is all your fault, father. You’re the one who drank too much. We wouldn’t have to carry you if you hadn’t gotten too drunk to walk.”

I jumped in again. “How many did you have? Was it three? Four, perhaps?”

“I had five drinks tonight,” Crillian said with a smile.

“You had six, not five,” his daughter corrected.

“Oh, yes. That’s right. I did have six after all.” He grew solemn and serious, then his head dropped as the sixth one took effect and he passed out.

“I don’t understand how he could have so many drinks, and still stay away for so long. That’s truly amazing on his part.”

Juniper rolled her eyes. “Unfortunately, he drinks so often that it doesn’t faze him anymore. He’s just become immune to its effects at this point.”

I can see you cringing. Indeed, that’s horrendous dialogue. It drags. It’s not how normal people speak. It’s too formal. All of that leads us to the conclusion, and rightfully so, that we should keep working on that piece of dialogue.

For those who’ve read my novel, Heroes Die Young, you may have thought that segment looked familiar. Here, a far better indication of how dialogue should be presented (the final version):

As if he could read my mind, Crillian looked at me with his eyes glazed over. “You need some exercise. Look at the trouble you’re having.”

I spoke amongst labored breaths. “Yeah, I’ll get right on that.”

Juniper was almost as out of breath as I was. “We wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t had so much Jungle Juice.”

I jumped in again. “How many was it, three, four?”

“Five,” Crillian said with a smile.

“Six,” his daughter corrected.

“And they were all worth it.” He grew solemn and serious, then his head dropped as the sixth one took effect and he passed out.

“Amazing he’s able to handle so many and still be coherent for so long.”

Juniper rolled her eyes. “He’s had lots of practice.”

Far better, in my opinion, and I’d hope that you could see the difference between the two pieces (do realize that the non-dialogue sections were not touched between the two examples). You’ll notice that the dialogue is fast and choppy, jumping between characters quickly, and getting the point across without going into too much detail. That’s how conversations take place in real life, and definitely how they should happen in your writing.

So, just to recap, keep your dialogue moving, keep it real, and most of all, leave the formalities for the stuffy conversations at the country club. Happy writing!

***

T. M. Hunter is the author of Heroes Die Young, which was awarded Champagne Books’ Best-Selling Novel of the Year for 2008. He has had several short stories published with his story “Little White Truths” receiving a top-ten finish in the 2007 Preditors and Editors Readers Poll. His next Aston West novel, Friends in Deed, is scheduled for a January 2010 release. More information about his stories, novels and upcoming events can be found at AstonWest.com. He can also be followed at MySpace and Facebook (under the name Aston West) and Twitter (@astonwest).

Behind the Character

With the economy in the duldrums and several folks I know getting laid off, I've been thinking lately about cause and effect and how Characters react.

Character development is tricky and often our favorite characters start acting out of turn, reacting in a way we never predicted. As a writer, do we let them take the lead or do we rein them back in and make them behave the way that best serves our plot?

For fully developed characters, most writers spend countless hours drafting a character profile. Basic info would be physical description, likes and dislikes, quirky behavior, etc. But a more in depth character sketch will include background memories, embarrassing moments, tragic episodes. That's when I start playing the what-if game.

What if my hero had been laid off ten years ago and had to struggle to regain self confidence? How will he then react to an prospective employee who has just been let go from a previous job? What if his worst childhood memory involved getting no valentines in his card bag on that special day during fourth grade? What would that do to his self confidence years later? Is this a shallow memory compared with losing a parent? Not necessarily. It depends on why he got no cards, why his fellow fourth grade students ostracized him. We all make mistakes. Our own pasts are riddled with bad decisions. It's how we overcome the results of those bad decisions that makes us who we are. The hero and heroine should be no different. Yes, losing a loved one at a critical time in their upbringing will add depth to a character, but so will a lot of other issues and situations. I always find a character more endearing if their background includes something less obvious.

When I can't pull something odd from my own experiences, I listen to others. Yep, I admit to stealing rare glimpses from my friends' pasts. Of course, I always laugh and tell them, "I hope you don't mind, but I'm putting that one in a book someday." I hope they realize I meant every word.

Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

Perhaps the most often asked question for a fiction
author is: Where do you get the ideas for your stories?

I've been asked that time after time over the years. and
I spent some time thinking about my answer. So - I've decided to share.

The answer will probably surprise many readers.

The ideas come from everywhere. Something heard on the
television, a chance conversation overheard in the grocery,
(remember that when you are standing in line waiting for the
cashier and talking to the person next to you), watching a couple
shopping in a mall, a bit in the newspaper, even something read
in another's book.

I remember distinctly listening to the last act of Faust (yep!
the opera) and thinking about the heroine and her death sentence.
It's quite an opera. I could see the heroine, pleading, and here
came the idea, to a stranger for her baby who has been taken from
her. The music inspired the idea. And so what was born was "Heartsong".
The idea for the sequel to "Heartsong" came from a scene from
another book. I read the arguement between the heroine and the hero
and decided I'd like to rewrite that scene. The characters suddenly
appeared and I knew I had the story for the sequel.

The names of towns have given me ideas, even a lonely old house.
(That's the gothic influence.)

"A Treasure For Sara", available now from Champagne Books was inspired
by a chance remark from an editor and by a little lake in the Yukon
when we took a trip through that country.

So, my simple answer to the question, "Where do your ideas come from?"
- They come from everywhere. Happy reading!

Allison

New Release - The Gender Divide

I'm very excited. My science fiction novel, The Gender Divide, was just released by Champagne Books on May 1st and is currently available for 20% off. I've been doing the happy dance all weekend long - that is when I can take time away from updating all the links on my websites.

In celebration, I thought that I would share with you a little about how I came to write The Gender Divide.

It all started when I had just finished re-reading Blind Waves, a novel co-authored by one of my favorite authors, Steven Gould (co-authored with Laura J. Mixon). There’s a scene where the two protagonists are skinny dipping. The authors have done a good job of establishing a realistic love-at-first-sight connection between them, and as a result the conversation naturally segues into a discussion on becoming intimate. They share the pertinent details about blood tests and previous partners and then, in an almost offhand way, the female protagonist, Patricia, mentions that she had her cycles turned off during a previous relationship. When that relationship ended, she didn’t turn them back on because she didn’t see any reason to go back to tampons.

Turning off menstrual cycles. A simple and believable enough concept for a science fiction novel, so simple that it’s relegated to one brief paragraph in a 350 page novel. It’s not a unique concept either, as this is not the only novel I’ve read that mentions this. Nor is it treated any differently in those novels. Yet somehow the implications of turning off menstrual cycles intrigued me.

Perhaps it was because I was working for a bio-tech company at the time. Although I’m not a scientist, I quickly learned how interconnected all the systems in the body are. It is difficult to affect one part of the body without affecting other parts. That is why so many drugs have side effects. The company I worked for developed drugs based on compounds naturally produced by the body and even those sometimes had side effects.

It’s natural for a science fiction author to make simplifying assumptions about the future as they develop their story, but this assumption kept nagging at me. I began wondering what would happen if there was an unusual side effect to stopping menstruation. Menstruation starts at a young age and runs for roughly forty years. During that time there is a lot of biological activity that is occurring. What happens if that all that energy is available elsewhere? Where would it go and what effect would it have? What if it affected longevity and women started living longer than men?

From there I began to wonder about the implications of greater longevity for women. How would this disparity in life span impact world politics, economics, the military, and society? As I thought about it, I realized that the balance of power would gradually shift from men to women, resulting in massive changes in all these areas. Most of these changes were interesting to me only in the context of the new world that I was writing and how it affected the people who lived in it.

Enter Ryan Peters. Ryan, the hero in the novel, is trying to recover a formula that allows men to live as long as women. He has already been treated with this formula and is forced to pretend to be his own son to cover his longer life span. This becomes harder than he anticipated when he starts working for Olivia Morgan, his true love from forty years ago.

When I first started writing, I expected Ryan and Olivia to live ‘happily ever after’. Imagine my surprise when this didn’t happen, or at least not as I expected it to. Instead Ryan finds himself drawn to Nicole West, another woman he works with, despite having what appears to be the perfect relationship with Olivia.

I won’t divulge any more details, other than to say that the rest of the story wrote itself, with the help of Ryan, Olivia and Nicole. The result is a story that I hope you will enjoy reading as much as I enjoyed writing it, a story that Chris Bartholomew at Static Movement Online calls “…extraordinary reading, a book that will live in your thoughts long after you’ve read it…”.

Please visit the novel’s website at http://www.thegenderdivide.com for a full excerpt of Chapter One, links to where you can purchase The Gender Divide, and some more fantastic reviews (4 cups from Coffee Time Romance & More!).

I've also added a little spring bonus, to complement the 20% discount that the publisher is currently offering. At the end of the excerpt for Chapter 1, there is a link to my email address. Send me an email and I will send you a link to read Chapter 2 online.Enjoy!

Posted by David Boultbee

End of semester

The second semester of my on-line course work is about to end and I have made some new and interesting discoveries over the past few months. The most important one I think is they way I view a story. For many years I viewed writing a story much like taking a cross country road trip. You need to have a plan. You need to know where you are starting from and your destination. Who will be traveling with you and are there any places you want to stop along the way? Once you have that figured out, you are fee to explore. Maybe take an unexpected side-trip. Those are always fun, right? Got obnoxious passengers? Drop them off at the next rest stop.
Applying this long held belief, I plotted out my novel, but not extensively. Basically, I had my beginning point, destination and a few passengers. And then I buckled up and began to write. The first thing I found out is that I needed to begin much earlier than I anticipated. So my travel plans were all messed up. Still I had my passengers and my destination. Luckily, none of my major characters needed to changed, but the destination I had planned ended up all wrong. It is sort of like driving from Binghamton to San Diego, only to find that you're heading to Seattle.
At that point, the whole driving-plot-passenger-story truth started to give me a head ache, so I gave in and let one of my writing believes die. It was rather sad. But then another truth came to me. That stories (and novels especially) are there own being, almost organic in nature. They will thrive and grow in amazing ways if nurtured. No, I don't think that stories are now house plants. But rather like children. No matter what plans you make for them, no matter how much time and energy you spend laying the foundation for them to succeed at something, they have their own mind and will. And that will is always what matters.
I'm not going to say that plotting is wrong or that you shouldn't have an idea how a story will progress. Can you imagine what bungled stories we would all write if it weren't for the hint of a plot from the beginning? But too stringent a plot can ruin creativity, destroy what it is we are trying to accomplish.
So, the two most important tools I have gained this semester are trust and flexibility. I now have the flexibility to let the story unfold, the character's grow and book end they way it wants to, not how I have directed. And I trust that if I give in to the story it always will.
Jen Bokal

Do U Acronym?

Anyone wishing to become more active online and perhaps participating in group or private chatting, IMing, or sending updates on social networking sites needs to know the various acronyms which one comes across quite frequently.

I didn’t realize there were still people out there using the internet who didn’t know them until I ran across an old friend on Facebook who asked me what BRB meant. “LOL”, I told her, “u don’t know?”

For the internet acronym-challenged (IAC), here is a list of some of the more common:


B4 – before
B4N – bye for now
BRB – be right back
BTW – by the way
DH, DW, DS, DD, DMIL, etc. – in order: dear husband, dear wife, dear son (or sister), dear daughter, dear mother-in-law, and on and on (although in some peoples’ lexicons, these refer to “damn husband, wife, etc.)
FAQ – frequently asked questions
FUBAR – f***ed up beyond all recognition
G2G – got to go
GR8 – great
H8 – hate
IM – instant message(ing)
IMHO – in my humble opinion
JK – just kidding
L8, L8R – late, later
LOL – laughing out loud
NRN – no response necessary
PITA – pain in the a$$
ROFL – rolling on floor laughing
THX – thanks
TTYL – talk to you later

Well, that’s all for this month.
THX 4 reading and TTYL, G2G!

Candace Morehouse

www.candacemorehouse.com