Archive for June, 2010
MY PARENTS, MY INSPIRATION, & MY FIRST NOVEL
SECRET LOVE MATCH
by Nancy Lennea
Thank you, Lisa, for welcoming me today and for inviting me to enlighten you all with how my parents, Robert and Audrey Beegle, inspired my debut novel, SECRET LOVE MATCH. My contemporary romance, released this month from Red Rose Publishing, tells how a 40-year-old former TV actor seeks out an old friend. Taylor Adams wants him to help get him into film. When he meets the man’s 21-year-old daughter, the tennis ace, he is compelled to get close to her…as long as her father doesn’t find out.
I could fill several pages answering a reader’s question like “how do you get ideas?” Simply, write what you know. My hero came to life when I wanted to portray a drifter looking back on a wasted life. I wanted him a bit older, a little wiser, and he needed a goal; a dream. My character is loosely based on both William Shatner of Star Trek fame and Tim Allen, star of the comedy film, Galaxy Quest.
I grew up during the original Star Trek TV show’s short-lived run. My parents recognized my passion for space during those pre-moonwalk days. They allowed me to stay up late on a school night. William Shatner became a movie star years later when Star Trek-The Movie hit the theaters. In Galaxy Quest, Tim plays the star of a space western, popular eighteen years earlier, now earning a living at sci-fi conventions and other low budget appearances. My own character’s popular TV space western drifted into reruns fifteen years earlier, and now he wants his name in lights.
My parents inspired me to write and keep writing, and helped by editing my drafts. They also helped in the creation of my heroine, Rebecca Delacourt. I was again fortunate to have parents who scrimped and saved so we could enjoy the nearby beach club. I learned to swim and dive then was presented with a tennis racket. It felt good in my hand. I felt powerful each time I hit the ball over the net. I competed against friends. A few of the cute boys came by to play…tennis, that is. I continued to play up and through college and watched Wimbledon and the Olympics. I never would have created a tennis ace with a dream set on an Olympic medal if it wasn’t for my parents. They inspired me to get up from the sand chair, or out of the water, and learn a sport, which in turn made me create Becka.
My characters are two headstrong individuals with specific plans for their futures. Never mind Taylor is nearly twice Becka’s age. Forget that they have absolutely no plans to marry, much less date when such a distraction could impede on their goals. When they meet, everything changes!
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Nancy Lennea lives the dream. After growing up in Huntington, New York, and raising two handsome sons in New Hampshire, Nancy and her husband moved to North Carolina where she writes full-time. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Celtic Heart Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, and Sisters in Crime. She also writes paranormal romance as Nancy Lee Badger. Visit her website: www.nancylennea.com and her blog: www.nancylennea-inlove.blogspot.com.
Check out her book trailer on You Tube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k21mhLa-0Nc
SECRET LOVE MATCH is available now from http://redrosepublishing.com/books or just click on the buy link: http://redrosepublishing.com/books/product_info.php?products_id=666&osCsid=8947694298c709e5d692a1db9aca15b3
Dr. Strangeinspiration or How I Learned to Hate the Contraction!
By Joe Sergi, Author of Sky Girl and the Superheroic Legacy
I recently saw a review of Sky Girl and the Superheroic Legacy where the reviewer did not like the way one of the characters spoke. The book is about a teenage girl named DeDe, who develops the same super powers as a fictional comic book character named SkyBoy. Luckily, DeDe’s best friend, Jason, is a self professed comic book geek that helps her discover the origin of her powers and face the all-too-real enemies of SkyBoy. Jason uses perfect English and doesn’t use contractions, which annoyed the critic. Jason’s dialogue is intentional.
They say inspiration comes in strange ways. For Jason, it came, fittingly, from my experience at the New York ComicCon. The organizers had oversold the show and the fire marshal had stopped letting people in. Locked out, I sat on the floor to work on an early draft of Sky Girl. Instead, I found myself people watching.
I noticed all of the great shirts that people were wearing and immediately knew that Jason was going to wear a different geek shirt every day. This allowed for some great inside jokes. In the first book, the shirts are relatively straight forward with things like “Han shot first!” and “Frak!” In later books, he wears: “You can’t have manslaughter without laughter.” and “Honk if you are going to hit me!” At shows (or if you order the book through DCBService.com during June), when I sign the book, I draw different character sketches in the cover. As expected, Jason’s shirts are always different.
But, something else caught my eye while sitting on that floor. A fan with a wheeling cart full of books to be signed was getting irate about being kept off the floor. He started by calmly talking to the marshal, but soon was yelling at everyone. But, no matter how excited he got, his grammar never deteriorated, he never used a contraction, and he emphasized every syllable (think Sinatra in the younger days.) There are other people who talk similarly (a fictional example is Sheldon from Big Bang Theory), but this guy was incredible.
“This is not very fair!”
“I do not know why we cannot go in.”
“I cannot believe this. You are not very nice, kind sir.”
The entire rant was awkward, stilted, and uncomfortable. Most of all, it was perfect–Jason had his voice. I took out every one of Jason’s contractions. I read the sentences out loud stressing each syllable.”
Every editor who looked at the book tried to change Jason’s dialogue. But, like Jason’s inspiration, I would not back down. I even added lines of dialogue about the awkwardness of Jason’s diction.
So, if you pick up Sky Girl, I hope you don’t think,, “No one really talks like that”. Instead, I hope you remember my story. I would like to thank Fodder for Fiction for letting me explain Jason’s quirks.
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Joe Sergi is an author who lives outside of Washington, DC with his wife, Yee, and daughter, Elizabeth. He has published short prose stories and articles in the horror, science fiction, and super hero genres. Joe has also written for comics in the romance, horror, science fiction, and super hero genres. Sky Girl and the Superheroic Legacy is his first novel. In 2008, Joe was selected as a semi-finalist in the Who Wants to Create a Superheroine contest sponsored by the Shadowline Imprint of Image Comics. When not writing, Joe works for an unnamed government agency.
Joe’s publications can be found at www.joesergi.net. For more about Sky Girl and the Superheroic Legacy, visit the book’s website at www.skygirlnovel.com.
My Book Promotion Blooper
Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to be a featured guest on Marilyn Lee’s yahoo group for an exclusive on-line chat. I was thrilled to give it a try. While I’m an avid blogger here and at Roses of Prose, as well as a frequent tourist of the blogosphere, I had never experienced the power of the yahoo chat room. When I scheduled the event, I didn’t know my husband would be planning a special family weekend getaway to Hot Springs, Virginia. I figured no problem.
I joined the on-line group and set my membership to receive individual messages. I tested to ensure I could receive and respond on my blackberry. I posted my bio, book blurb, and links to my video trailer, blogs, & website in advance because I didn’t know how to do that from my phone. So proud of myself for overcoming the obstacle and my ability to take my show on the road—literally.
No problem, right?—WRONG! Sure, it seemed fine as we set out on the road. I had grandiose plans of completing the chat as a passenger and starting vacation as soon as we arrived at the Homestead Resort.
Little did I know, at precisely 10:59 a.m. – one minute before the chat was to begin—we would enter a dead zone in the mountains. A country glitch this city girl did not anticipate. I spent the next hour typing messages destined to wait in my “send queue.”
Apologizing to the group;
Explaining where I was;
Letting them know I’d answer questions soon as I had a signal;
Updating them on the lovely scenery;
Promising them I was a “texting” passenger, not driver;
And more.
I didn’t’ have a signal until we arrived at the resort. My messages left my outbox and a slew of questions arrived in my inbox. I rudely ignored my family during luch and did what I often yell at my teen-son for doing—texted at the table! I know—double standard! But this was a unique circumstance.
All in all, it ended up fine. I met some new on-line friends. I hope they’ll buy my book!
Are you an author? Share with me some of your mose challenging moments while promoting your books.
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
www.LLLeibow.com
Adults Do Forget and We Pay The Price!
By Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein
One of the major themes that has become a cornerstone of my fiction writing is that once we are adults we often loose some of the most fabulous traits and capacities that we had as children. For example, the ability to laugh easily and have fun. Do you remember as a kid how easy it was to enjoy yourself? I can remember all sorts of happy moments that are much harder to create now. Catching fireflies and running around on the grass with the bottle that had a couple of them inside at twilight, seemed to be an endless delight. And if I fell while I ran it was all the more fun. After all, no scabs when I fell on the grass. Laughing with my girlfriends in junior high was an endless treat. We sometimes only had to look at each other. Now that I know laughing is so good for mental health and is like an internal massage, I wish the chuckles came as easily. Also, as I child I was able to feel competent so easily. I may have been blessed with good parents, but after being in education and psychology for over 30 years, I can say it is innate in most children. Most of us as kids would strive to learn a game and play it well. We would strive to roller skate and endure many falls in the process. At lot of us were proud of all the household and academic tasks we could do successfully.
As a child I was also aware of many of the limitations of the adults around me. Teachers didn’t always listen to kids’ questions and remarks. They played favorites. Parents didn’t listen and were too busy to bother with important things to kids. Parents got angry too easily. Grown-ups had silly fights that spoiled the day. Grown-ups accepted terrible news on TV and radio and still went about their business without really trying to change things.
The list could go on and on.
So as a fiction writer I have chosen to try to highlight some of the things we loose as adults. Why? For two reasons: to help us better understand and listen to the kids in our lives, and to help us light a fire inside of ourselves so that we recapture the best of what we left behind. Just because we have grown up doesn’t mean we have to close down! We can have more fun. We can laugh more. We can do hobbies and have adventures that make us feel special and bring excitement and learning into our lives and the lives of our kids and grandkids.
We can do it. We just need to remember how! That’s one of the reasons why I suggest to not just have your kids read The Truth (I’m a girl, I’m smart and I know everything) or Secrets: You Tell Me Yours and I’ll Tell You Mine… Maybe. Read them and you will find the beginnings of your own pathway to the best of your younger self!
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein, nationally know Positive Psychologist, is the creator of The Enchanted Self,® a systematic way of helping to bring more joy, meaning, and purpose into our lives.
Dr. Holstein has been a school psychologist for more than 25 years. She has taught elementary school children and was an assistant professor in education in at Boston University. She has been in private practice as a psychologist with her husband, Dr. Russell M. Holstein, in Long Branch, New Jersey, for over 25 years.
Contact Dr. Holstein on the web at http://www.enchantedself.com/ and http://www.thetruthforgirls.com/.
Happy Birthday Joyce Carol Oates
Fodder for Fiction Weekly Author Birthday Bash
Happy Birthday to Joyce Carol Oates! I couldn’t resist sharing the following excerpt in honor of her special day. It may not feel very celebratory – and I hope Joyce Carol Oates feels happy on her birthday. However, there is something so moving about how loss can change our perception.
The river! Marina recalled how from Adam’s studio, at the rear of his house, you could stand staring across the river, those long mesmerized moments as light faded on the agitated waves, and dusk deepened at the edges of things; dusk, a quality of earth; while an eerie oily-glistening light remained on the water. In the west, the sun was chemical red and gorgeous, bleeding at the horizon like a burst egg yolk.
On both sides of the river fireworks erupted. Fourth of July: the American holiday celebrating gunfire, rockets, aggression, death to the enemy. Across the river on the east bank of the Hudson, in the vicinity of Tarrytown, gaudy pinwheels of crimson, gold, blinding-white light were rising, soaring and falling soundlessly into the river. And a moment later replaced by more explosions, gaudy glittering colors rising, sinking soundlessly to extinction. “Stop. Stop. Stop.” This idiotic celebration, at a time of death. As if in mockery of a man’s death. Even in Jones Point, where death awaited her. Lurid bright carnival colors pitching up into the now-darkening sky over the river. Exploding yellow calyxes, crimson eyeballs, streamers of rainbow guts. Hideous, hellish. Marina recalled that fireworks are jokey symbols of sexual orgasm, and the thought repelled her. Never us. And now never.”
Middle Age by Joyce Carol Oates
Paradoxically, I find the passage beautiful as it describes something the narrator sees as abhorrent. It’s precisely why I am in awe of the masterful craft of Joyce Carol Oates. Thank you, Joyce, and many happy returns of the day!
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
Get Out of the Way!
By Audrey Vernick
I started out writing literary short fiction for adults, so writing about a buffalo attending kindergarten was never really part of the Big Plan.
For me, the move to writing for children was gradual. Years ago, I wrote a nonfiction picture book with my sister that was published by a small press. After that, I had another nonfiction picture book accepted by HarperCollins. But all my fiction picture book projects went nowhere.
And then, one day, a buffalo.
It actually started with the book that will be the sequel to the book coming out this June. I was sitting with my son one morning, waiting for the school bus. He was bringing a batch of pumpkin muffins to school for a consumer science class, and our dog was sniffing around the muffins. I said something like, “He seems really interested in those muffins. You might need to teach your dog to bake.” And then I said, “A smarter writer than your mother would take that idea and run with it. Teach Your Dog to Bake. Teach Your Cat to Surf. Teach Your Buffalo to Play Drums.”
While walking the dog later that morning, I wrote most of the text of Teach Your Buffalo to Play Drums in my head. It was the fastest book I ever wrote. And I learned something from writing this book that has informed all the writing I’ve done since: I need to get out of and stay out of my own way.
If I had tried writing this book five years ago, I would have spent a very long time explaining. Justifying. Trying to have the fact that a buffalo wants to learn to play drums make sense. When really, it’s better not to think too much about it. To just let it happen. While a preschool audience is accepting of even the most out-there premises, I think the same can be said of most readers. Almost anything can be plausible if the writer treats the premise as truth.
As long as she stays out of her own way.
_______________________
Audrey Vernick is the author of IS YOUR BUFFALO READY FOR KINDERGARTEN?, illustrated by Daniel Jennewein, published by Balzer & Bray (HarperCollins) June 2010. She is also the author of SHE LOVED BASEBALL: THE EFFA MANLEY STORY (HarperCollins, 2010); TEACH YOUR BUFFALO TO PLAY DRUMS (Balzer & Bray, 2011); TEAM OF BROTHERS: THE TRUE STORY OF BASEBALL’S LONGEST-PLAYING ALL-BROTHER TEAM (Clarion, 2012); and SO YOU WANT TO BE A ROCK STAR (Walker, 2012). She lives with her husband, son, daughter, and dog near the ocean in New Jersey. You can visit her at www.audreyvernick.com.
IF I WERE EVIL…
by Karen Rose
The question I get asked the most often is: Where do you get your ideas? Sometimes they come from every day, ordinary events or experiences.
And sometimes I have to give the ordinary a twist, to see it through a villain’s eyes. You know how you can add “in bed” to a fortune cookie fortune? I add, “If I were evil…” and see what happens next. Bwahaha. (I should confess that the thought of my being so comfortable with evil villains makes my poor mother upset.)
The villain in SILENT SCREAM is a blackmailer, who’s not afraid to shed blood. He was born in a coffee shop! Several summers ago the kids were out of school and driving me crazy, so I’d escaped the house for the easy-to-focus-environment of my local coffee shop. I have friends who write in coffee shops, who can sip a latte and pound out pages, oblivious to all that’s going on around them. I cannot do this.
It’s not my fault. People talk loudly in coffee shops. Maybe it’s the caffeine. Maybe it’s that they think because they’re deep in their own conversation and not paying attention to me, that I’m also not paying attention to them. Not so.
So, I was surrounded that summer by loudly talking people who didn’t pay me no never mind. People used the coffee shop for their office, conducting interviews and business meetings. They came to gossip and start political arguments. But the most interesting was that the local coffee shop was also the “safe place” for couples to meet in person after having met on the Internet.
This was the part I found impossible to ignore, no matter how hard I tried. The woman was typically older and wore her Sunday dress. I felt sorry for her, because I could feel how awkward and nervous and uncomfortable she was. I imagined she’d been out of the dating pool for some time, having been left by a snake of a husband for a younger chickie. The man usually wore a suit, sometimes a tie, but usually his shirt was unbuttoned halfway down his chest. He looked suave, and on the move. And sometimes the men were nice, but more often it was clear their main goal was getting the woman to go home with them.
I’d sit with my fingers on the keyboard, trying to write my own story, but sending mental vibes to the woman instead. DON’T GO HOME WITH HIM. HE IS A SLEAZE.
And then I thought, I bet at least some of these guys are married.
If I were evil, I could blackmail them and make a lot of money.
And my villain was born.
So be open to all experiences! And if you’re writing suspense, think about what a villain would do. You may find it leads you to your next great book idea!
Where do you like to read? If you’re a writer, where do you write? Do you have a favorite neighborhood coffee-shop?
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Karen Rose is an internationally bestselling author, her books appearing on the New York Times, London Sunday Times, and Germany’s Der Spiegel bestseller lists. Her novel I’M WATCHING YOU received the Romance Writer’s of America’s RITA ® award for Best Romantic Suspense for 2005. Five of Karen’s other titles have been RITA finalists. Her eleventh novel, SILENT SCREAM, was released in May, 2010. Her books have been translated into eighteen languages. A former chemical engineer and high school teacher, Karen lives in Florida with her family, a dog, and two cats.
Website link: www.karenrosebooks.com and blog: www.thegoddessblogs.com
What Kind Of DNA Did You Say?
By Kaye Manro
It is foregone conclusion that I write SFR, Sci-Fi Romance. In this genre, you’ll find all sorts of odd and diverse species and characters, from sensual lime green women to furry Wookies.
When I wrote Forbidden Love, my bestselling erotic SFR from Red Rose Publishing, I wanted to think outside the proverbial box. I’d like to share something unique that had a direct influence on how and why I created my character, T’Kon. No doubt, my involvement in anything relating to Science Fiction played a big part in the world building of this story. Yet as I pondered on character development, it occurred to me this hero should be very unusual indeed.
…He will come from a planet that is hotter than the hottest Earth desert, I’ll call it Asconage, and it will revolve around two suns, one near, one far. There will be laws that forbid interspecies mating… And even though this hero will be from an advanced civilization, he will have—what kind of DNA did you say?
A flash of memory washed my mind featuring Camo, my beloved pet chameleon. Camo wasn’t exactly right for a people environment, yet he was so sweet, and very smart. He would sit in my hand for long periods and calmly observe his surroundings. He would even perch on my shoulder as I did my homework each day. He seemed to want to know exactly what I was doing. A gentle and quiet little creature, Camo had to have lots of light—he preferred natural and very hot sunlight, but artificial heat lamps worked too. Because of his cool blood nature, he had to stay in the scorching heat for many hours a day. Sadly, because I lived in a cold climate and he needed the hot desert sands to survive, I had to give him up. But I’ll never forgot our connection. Just like any pet, he became a big part of my life.
When I thought about my character, T’Kon, I wanted him to be very different and to have pristine qualities similar to Camo. So I gave his species a touch of Reptilian DNA. His heroine, Maya got her qualities in a similar way. Although she is human, Maya is a natural scientist that saves desert lizard habitats.
From a special memory of a childhood pet, an entire wellspring of creativity opened, allowing me to explore and develop my work of fiction. I invite you to give Forbidden Love a read. You may enjoy it!
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Kaye Manro Bio
As a romance author, I lean toward the adventuresome in my writing. I love science fiction and all the enticing quantum theories surrounding it. Where characters rush through outer space at FTL, or teleport into another time, and even slipstream into an alternate reality. I like creating sizzling love scenes too with sexy heroes, and captivating heroines. It just seemed natural to combine all these elements together in my stories.
FORBIDDEN LOVE
Blurb
Exploring the galaxies at faster than light speed (FTL) is routine for the inhabitants of Asconage. T’Kon’s cool-blood culture exists on a planet in the scorch of binary suns. Yet there are governing archaic rules to prohibit interspecies mating with those from different worlds and evolutionary paths.
When T’Kon crashes his spacecraft on Terrain, a seasonal planet barely on the cusp of space travel, he cannot resist Maya, the warm-blooded audacious female who gives him aid. His desire for her entices him to abandon his species moral code.
There is little time to linger inside their illicit passion. The warring factions of her world are closing in. A quick fix of his spacecraft and a fast exit is his best choice. But can T’Kon leave Maya behind and forsake their emerging Forbidden Love?
FORBIDDEN LOVE Buy Page: http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=317&products_id=772
Kaye’s Website: http://sfr.kayemanro.com/index.htm
Kaye’s Blog: http://kayemanro.blogspot.com/
Happy Birthday Kathleen E. Woodiwiss!
It’s time to honor the birthday of author Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. Her title character Shanna had a father who put a lot of pressure on her to marry before her birthday.
“You have a year to settle your fancies,” he roared. “Your period of grace ceases on your first-and-twentieth year, the day marking your birth. If you have not wed into a family of the aristocracy by then, I’ll name the next ready swain still young enough to get you with child as your husband. And if I must drag you to the altar in chains, you will obey!”
Yikes! I hope author Kathleen Woodiwiss never had that kind of problem! Those kinds of decisions should be personal and be in one’s own time. I hope you enjoyed this little ditty in honor of another great author’s birthday!
Best to you,
Lisa Lipkind Leibow
Author of Smart Women’s Fiction
www.LLLeibow.com
Make Me Write It
by Michael Ruddy
An inspiration that not only creates a plot line, but a novel and writing vocation as well——the best way to explain it? Let’s say you experience something in life that you know is not legitimate. You’re not completely sure though, because you’re still thinking naively that most of the world is trustworthy. But after a few more coincidences it’s obvious, the probability of events proves highly improbable. Now you are focused.
You begin to suspect and question——everything that has one dollar of interest in conflict with your genuine belief of fair and just. It’s the same from any viewpoint. The answers become an unbelievable convergence of conflict from many different directions, even related parties with different interests.
You become party to a lawsuit that unfolds slowly as you learn the legal process. “Can it be true?” you ask yourself——then start examining each detail of conflict for a better understanding and possible explanation. Instead, only validating the corruption laced into the present day system. More disappointment.
Why didn’t anyone teach you about this? Why has nothing been published on the topic; or the possibility, if nothing else?
It has been said that anger and frustration equal motivation. Call it inspirational anger, perhaps, but there was a need to tell the story of frustration for others. And, once I started processing the frustration, it acted in a therapeutic way … giving way to exposing more stories to come … wanting the reader to derive a real-life benefit from each story.
——Michael Ruddy, Author of Conflicts with Interest.
Michael Ruddy is a graduate of the University of Denver with a degree in engineering administration. He has spent the last forty years associated with both the commercial and residential disciplines of the construction industry, which inspired many of the events in his novel, Conflicts with Interest. Currently, he resides in Boulder, CO with his wife, five children, dog and cutting horses. While the author has been published in short-story format, Conflicts with Interest is his debut novel.
You can find Michael online at www.rodeopublishing.com