From an early age, I’ve always had my nose in a book. I can’t tell you how many times my mom and I would go to the library and spend hours wandering through the shelves and shelves of books, soaking in the quiet-hush and smell of aged papers. So trying to pick a favorite book is like trying to pick a favorite candy and that, my friends, just can’t be done. But I can tell you about the most unusual book that I’ve read: Dan Simmons’ Summer of Night.
Now first off, this book is long and the print is even smaller. It’s a couple hundred pages at least…hang on…let me check…yeah, 498 pages. It’s a bit daunting but the story is will put you in a chokehold from page one. Before you know it, you’ve plowed through at least half of those 498 pages in only a day, maybe less. The story is a suspense/horror/thriller, told through the eyes and thoughts of a group of boys in a dyin
g town. When I first started reading it, it reminded me of Stephen King’s, It—you all know how that story goes with a group of friends facing down an unspeakable evil. But Summer of Night is nothing like King’s story. The kids in Simmons’ book are kids the whole way through and they fight for their lives even as they’re plucked off one by one. And you don’t even know what is doing the plucking until the very end. What you do know is that whatever the boys are fighting, it’s very old and very, very bad.
The unusual aspect for me was the boys’ perseverance, their determination to stay alive, to save themselves and each other. Throughout the entire book, you could smell the heat, the desperation, the fear and the bravery that these kids show in the face of their fears and honestly, I haven’t read a book before or since this one that does this so well and so genuinely.
So give a shot, my friends. I think you’ll enjoy it as much as I did, twice over and possibly a third time.
Cheers!
© 2112 by Melissa Goeling
CHAPTER 1
Marisa should have found her circumstances terrifying, but anger blinded her. The stolen money, the promised inheritance, her father’s constant doubts as to her ability to do anything on her own—none of these should have compelled her to come here. Impatiently, she tapped her boot on the macadam of the Brazilian airport. Why was it so difficult to hire a private plane to take her into the jungle of Mato Grosso? Here she was in Brasilia, the capital city, and she might as well have been invisible.
She’d spoken to one pilot after another. Polished, wearing suits and ties, they looked like businessmen from any American city. Most spoke varying degrees of English but could have spoken in Portuguese for all that it mattered. They looked her over with admiring stares, taking inexcusable liberties with their dark, liquid eyes, and then promptly turned away when she asked them about Mato Grosso.
What was her stubbornness costing this time? Coming here, so far from her comfortable niche, wasn’t the first time she had burned her bridges. Dabbing perspiration from her forehead, she remembered the cold, raw wind of winter pushing against her back as she left Virginia. Heat was better.
In the next hangar, Marisa spied a pair of broad shoulders connected to long, brown arms, leaning over scattered parts that could once have belonged to an airplane. She eyed the untidy pile of tools with distaste as she stepped over them, edging closer to the man.
“Excuse me. Do you speak English?” she asked.
The man turned slowly to face her. Marisa saw her own reflection in his rimless, aviator sunglasses. A tall, slender young woman, with honey-blonde hair escaping from its usual prim twist at the nape of her neck, wrinkled her nose at the image just as he removed the glasses. She was completely unprepared for the cool gray eyes fringed in dark lashes that returned her stare. The slight sprinkle of silver mixed with his almost-black hair gave him a certain dignity of appearance he probably didn’t deserve. His lips parted in a wide grin, and white teeth contrasted against the honey-nut tan of his face.
“Yep, I speak English.”
“Is this your employer’s plane?” She pointed to a shiny new craft near the rear of the hangar.
He looked puzzled for a moment, as if he didn’t understand her question and then down at his grease-stained hands and clothing. A dark blue T-shirt molded his chest, and his tanned legs protruded from cutoff jeans. “You might say that.”
It took him so long to answer she wanted to walk away. She felt bedraggled, grimy, discouraged, and plain tired. Her funds were too dangerously limited to let her stay in the city any length of time, waiting for someone to take her into the jungle.
“Is there any way I could speak to your boss?” She tried to match his easy nonchalance.
He scratched his chin reflectively, rasping the short, dark stubble, and further grating against her taut nerves. His expression reflected some secret amusement he apparently did not plan to share with her.
“Why?”
“I don’t see as it’s any of your business.” She struggled for composure. The oaf enjoyed her discomfort. Why let him get the better of the situation? Besides, he might be a pilot. He looked like a pilot.
“I need to get to Mato Grosso.”
He leaned against the workbench and folded his arms across his chest. “How many in your party?”
“Only me.”
“You? Alone? Forget it!”
“But why not? I’m prepared to pay. Within reason.”
The grin returned for a brief second, softening the hard planes of his jaw, and then faded. “Why the Matos, of all places? You’re a tourist, aren’t you? Then go take a tour.”
To avoid waiting for the next expression of sarcasm to come into his eyes, she looked down at her heeled boots and kicked a small stone with savage intensity. “No, I’m not a tourist. I didn’t come down here to sightsee, if that’s what you mean.” She wasn’t going to tell him about the treasure. The man was obviously an American adventurer, probably stranded here through lack of self-discipline and common sense, and not to be trusted. It was as if she stood in the middle of an old Humphrey Bogart movie.
“If your ladyship cares to sit, I’ll get a couple of cold ones out of the fridge.” He motioned her toward a scruffy-looking couch.
Marisa sat gingerly on the edge, expecting any moment that some loathsome creature would crawl onto her leg. She could abide snakes if they kept their distance, but she hated bugs of any kind.
“Now. Tell me all about it.” He cocked a dark eyebrow at her, stretching out his long legs as if he had all the time in the world.
Maybe he had time, but she didn’t. The pressure to get to the bottom of her family’s mystery money and find out what happened to Sara had become like a boulder teetering just above her head.
© 2012 by Pinkie Paranya
Visit the Authors Website
Authors Biography
To pants or not to pants? That is the great plotting question.
The answer: It’s up to you!
Yep, like many things in a writer’s world, it’s all about what works and what doesn’t. I’ve listen and read a great many opinions on how vital an outline is to a writers’ success. In my endless quest for answers, I’ve tried a lot of different approaches and here’s what I’ve found has worked for me.
Outlines: Nah, not such a good idea. Outlines remind me too much of those research papers I had to do in college. They seem to suck the creativity right out of me. So how exactly do I get a story on paper? Well , my first completed Urban fantasy manuscript was born because I had an idea for a character. This character would haunt my every waking hour, interfere when I tried to lose myself in other’s stories, tease me when I was trying to do the job that actually pays, and had my husband worried I was becoming schizophrenic and holding arguments with non-existent people.
Unable to escape her voice, I put her down on paper, wrote out the scene haunting me and so the story began. About 50 plus pages in, the story stalled and so did I. The character became strangely silent and when I finally lost my temper and accuse 
her of being a tease, she laughed darkly (seriously she did) probably enjoying my angst.
In an effort to figure out why she was being such a witch, I sat down and began answering some of my own questions. And so I began doing what I later learned was called “character development”. The ‘whys’, and ‘how comes’ behind each person’s actions and reactions. As those fleshed out, so did my world building. The world they inhabited and the history of it all began to factor in to why decisions were made a certain way, or why actions had certain consequences.
With this foundation I wrote out where I thought she was going and what she was going to face. It was one page, and I wasn’t worried about punctuation, voice, POV, any of it. Just a basic road map so I could see the overall picture (aka story arc).
The story woke up and I was back 
at the keyboard. Did I follow that one page road map? Nope. But it was a huge help. That road map became what I called a touchstone map, a list of key happenings necessary for my character to get to where she needed to be. What happened in-between those happenings never matched up with the initial plan. I’m sure you’ve heard, numerous times, how characters will write a story, not the author. I agree 100% with that. Which is probably why an outline will never really work for me.
Now for my current project, I decided to try out a few tips I had learned so 50 plus pages in I wouldn’t stumble to a stop. A while ago I attended a writer’s conference workshop by Connie Flynn on character development. She introduced a character development worksheet that I decided to use. I like it because it helped me answer those questions that stopped me the first time.
Again, no outline, but a basic idea of what my story was and where it was going.
So the magic question, did I stall out?
Yeah, I did, but not because of my characters but because where I was starting wasn’t working. So I went back, fleshed out my history on paper, and started again. 
In one sitting, instead of struggling through ten pages, I got out twenty. A clear indication I was on the right track.
Now I have much love and admiration for Higley, but the girl rocks out stories like you wouldn’t believe. And if I was the jealous type, I’d be green. I’m a slower writer, and my OCD is a pain in the ass because I try to write my first draft as if it’s my last. It’s a tough battle for me not to edit as I write, but thanks to the intervention of my group, I’m getting better at looking forward, not backwards.
There are so many opinions as to what’s the correct way to write, that it’s almost discouraging if you’re a new writer. So as I’ve learned through my kick-ass critique group, it’s your story, you tell it. Doesn’t matter how you process or how you work, you do what works for you. That’s part of being an artist.
© 2012 by Jami Gray
Shadow’s Edge: Book 1 of the Kyn Kronicles is out now and Shadow’s Soul: Book 2 of the Kyn Kronicles hits shelves Summer 2012.
You can find me at:
Buy Link: www.BlackOpalBooks.com
Website: www.JamiGray.com
Blogs: www.7EvilDwarves.wordpress.com or
www.JamiGray.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jamigray.author
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JamiGrayAuthor
Who’s Wearing the Armor?
I love Urban Fantasy, all the dark edges and fantastic magic lurking in the shadows of the real world, and let’s not forget about the kick butt heroines that populate the genre. Yet no matter how wild the adventure or exciting the danger, I still need that touch of romance to help me connect with the characters.
Let’s make sure we’re on the same page before I continue. Romance doesn’t mean my leather wearing, weapons mistress of the dark is going to jump into bed with the first alpha male that knocks her on her butt. That’s sex…sometimes great sex…but still sex. For me, romance is the roller coaster ride my heroine takes as she realizes how much the disturbing male who is turning her life upside down, will come to mean to her. It’s all the steps, the arguments, the partnering up against the big bads, the quiet moments, the sparks of shared humor, all those little things that suddenly change the relationship into a partnership.
When I was initially submitting my first book, Shadow’s Edge, to agents and editors, you would be amazed at how many times my very nice rejection letters included the following “…great story, but there’s just not enough sex.” Ummm…okay?
I could have buckled down and let Raine and Gavin get down and dirty, but the problem was, it wasn’t the right time in their relationship. They were so busy tracking down tantalizing clues, dead bodies, mad scientists, and power hungry military peeps, that trying to find that right spot for some quality time in the bedroom, just wasn’t happening. As a writer, I feel it’s my job to stay true to my characters, so I held strong and was thrilled when Shadow’s Edge got picked up and my fabulous editor didn’t say a word about the lack of a hot and heavy scene.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of sexual tension in Shadow’s Edge, but I felt it was important to lay a solid base for the evolving relationship between my heroine and hero, Raine and Gavin. Considering how much is thrown their way, I didn’t need them falling apart before they even got started. So I let their partnership run its course naturally. Which meant the bedrock of their relationship helps save them both in the second book, Shadow’s Soul.
Don’t get me wrong, I love books, and I’ve read everything from erotica to suspense to fantasy to historical. I’ve found some of the best books I’ve read are the ones where the romance grows with the characters. It resonates with me when the self-sufficient, independent, can handle anything thrown her way heroine has that aha moment when she discovers how much more rich and rewarding her life becomes because she’s found a balance in her hero. Even her flaws (because no heroine should be perfect, that would be boring!) are altered—they become strengths instead of weaknesses, because instead of doing it on her own, there’s someone to share the burden with.
What’s even better is when the heroine turns into the knight in 
shining armor for her hero. I mean, how awesome is that? Considering how many times a story’s hero stands in front of the rampaging dragon, shielding his love from shredding claws, isn’t it nice when a heroine can step in and with a quick flick of her wrist, take down the snarling demon determined to drag him into hell?
The true power of a couple lies in the strength between the hero and the heroine, because if they were facing the world on their own, it wouldn’t be much of a story. Even if it takes a book or two to get to the deliciously steamy scenes, it’s well worth the wait. For me, it feels more real and has me believing that they’ll make it through anything—dirty socks on the floor, leaving the toilet seat up, and slathering werewolves prowling outside their door.
Shadow’s Edge: Book 1 of the Kyn Kronicles is out now and Shadow’s Soul: Book 2 of the Kyn Kronicles hits shelves Summer 2012.
You can find me at:
Website: www.JamiGray.com
Blogs: www.7evildwarves.wordpress.com/ or www.jamigray.wordpress.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jamigray.author
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JamiGrayAuthor
Buy Site: www.blackopalbooks.com/
© 2012 by Jami Gray
1. What’s the first thing you did when you received word you’d sold a book?
Well, I’d been on the query-go-round for a couple of months when I entered the contest on Savvy Author, so I was used to checking my email every 30 seconds. I opened the email and read what Lauri had to say and the first thing I did was blink—twice. I couldn’t believe I was actually reading what I was reading. Since I was at work, I rushed over to a co-worker and asked her to read the email just make sure I’d read it right. Then I cried.
2. What part of the book is the easiest for you to write? Why?
I know it’s cliche, but the idea for Basement Level Five: Never Scared came from a dream. I had a week-long dream about the premise and the characters. Once I sat down to write the book, the easiest part to put down on paper was the actual dream—the first few chapters.
3. What part of the book is the hardest for you? Why?
It was such a rush to finish the first five chapters (mostly because I dreamt it), I just knew the rest would be a piece of case. Not. It was like pulling teeth trying to figure out the direction I wanted to go in after I penned the beginning. I sat on it for a good two weeks before I picked it up again. There were so many ideas running through my mind, I had a hard time focusing.
4. Who is your favorite character in your book and why?
I love all the characters but Alexa is dearest to my heart. She is such a complex character, I had fun trying to figure her out. I wanted her to be tough, but conflicted. She needed to have an edge about her.
5. If one of your books became a movie, which celebrity would you like to star as one of your heroines? Tell us about your heroine.
No lie, I wanted Zoe Saldana to be Alexa before the movie Columbiana was released. I still see her as Alexa.
Alexa is a retired assassin who worked with her family as a contractor for the CIA. She’s basically two people rolled into one. On one hand, she’s a caring, loving mother. On the other hand, she’s a very dangerous woman. When the book opens, she’s firmly running away from her past. She’s trying, as best as she can, to lead a normal life.
6. If one of your books became a movie, which celebrity would you like to star as one of your heroes? Tell us about your hero.
Definitely Michael Ealy. I envisioned his face when I wrote the character of Alejandro (Dro), except Dro is taller. Still I can’t see anyone imagine anyone else in the roll. It’s strange because Michael Ealy and Zoe Saldana played opposite each other in another movie that was released after I wrote the book. Go figure.
Dro is one of those strong, capable men. He’s the type of guy you’d bring home to Mom and she’d be glad you were with him because he’s intelligent, fearless, and treats women with respect. He’s the president of the Martinez Organization, which hasn’t always been run above ground. After he inherited the business from his father, he swore to legitimize the company.
7. Do all your heroes and all heroines look the same in your mind as you “head write”?
Every character looks different in my mind—they’re all unique. I can’t write unless I’m envisioning someone speaking dialogue and doing actions.
8. Do you eat comfort food when writing? If so, what food inspires your imagination?
No sense in trying to eat dinner because it gets cold. I’ve tried that a few times. Normally, I grab some crackers/cookies and a tall glass of water before I start writing. Unfortunately, food doesn’t inspire my imagination—that would be music above anything else.
9. What hobby do you enjoy when not writing?
I love to plan. I’m always planning some type of event—baby showers, weddings, birthday parties…anything. 
10. What’s your strongest point as a writer?
I have a pretty active imagination, so I would guess my strongest point is coming up with ideas.
11. What is your favorite romance book that you’ve read
Definitely Indigo by Beverly Jenkins. Romance was not my thing until I read that novel. It changed my life.
12. You’re on a remote island with a handsome man, a computer, and a “mysterious” source of electricity to power your computer. What do you do?
Play on Facebook. Just kidding. I’d probably spend some time with the handsome man first and use that as inspiration and write.
13. What genre would you like to try writing in but haven’t yet done so? Why?
Middle grade. I’ve recently started a Prequel to Basement Level Five, which would fall into the Young Adult category. But I’d like to write a book that my children would be able to read. They ask me all the time when they are going to be able to read my book. Of course, I said “nevah”. So I would like to write something they can read and show their friends.
14. Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Chats, or Twitter. Which do you like best and why?
Facebook, by far. I love FB because most of my family is active on it and it’s a good way to keep up with them. And because I’m not that computer savvy, it seems easier to navigate. And if you ever want to find me, I’ll be on there at some point throughout a day.
Tell us where to find you: website(s), publisher’s page(s), blog(s), Facebook page(s), etc. List them all!
My website: www.lwrightauthor.com (still under construction)
My blog: thebasementlevelfive.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lesliewrightauthor
Twitter: @LWrightAuthor
Black Opal Books: www.blackopalbooks.com
Black Opal Books Blog: www.somestoriestold.com
1. What’s t he first thing you did when you received word 
you’d sold a book?
Sometime last year in May, I had a day off from work, so I checked my email. It’s funny, I have the paper on my ‘rejection’ bulletin board to show how well perseverance works. The email from Black Opal Books offered a contract for my book, To Love An Irishman. I did a double-take, and looked at the message again. I couldn’t believe it! After realizing what I saw was real, I couldn’t help but do a ‘happy dance’ in the middle of my living room. I felt so GOOD! All I wanted was for my work to get published.
2. What part of the book is the easiest for you to write? Why?
The easiest part of the book for me to write is the ending. Believe it or not, I write the conclusion first, and then work on the rest of the novel. I prefer this method, because it opens a lot of possibilities for what to write before. The ending is an important part of a novel, and for some reason, it’s the first scene that I feel compelled to write.
3. What part of the book is the hardest for you? Why?
The hardest part of the book to write is the beginning. They take me so long to write, no wonder I write the ending first. I’ve taken a workshop on how to write a great opening, read numerous articles on the subject, but I still find the task difficult. After all, the beginning is what pulls the reader into your story.
4. Who is your favorite character in your book and why?
My favorite character in my book is Ciarán O’Devlin. He has a great Irish accent, he’s emotionally driven, stubborn, and not to mention handsome to boot. In the novel, he is the character who changes the most. He overcomes his prejudice—which was hard to do back then—and allows himself to fall in love again after initial heartbreak. Oh, and I love him!
5. If one of your books became a movie, which celebrity would you like to star as one of your heroines? Tell us about your heroine.
From To Love An Irishman, I’d really love Isla Fisher (see picture at left) to play Lady Aveline Peyton. She looks young despite the fact she is 32! She is red-haired, brown-eyed, and the right age range. She looks innocent enough, beauty aside, and is able to handle tragic events well. Her ability to adapt is remarkable. No gentlewoman in the 1800s would willingly help their tenants with farm work.
6. If one of your books became a movie, which celebrity would you like to star as one of your heroes? Tell us about your hero.
From To Love An Irishman, I’d really love Ryan Kelly from Celtic Thunder (see picture at right) to play Ciarán O’Devlin. After all, Ryan has Ciarán’s blue eyes and black hair. He is also 33, which
makes him in the right age range. He sings really well, his smile is captivating, and his build is perfect. Oh, and he’s charming.
7. Do all your heroes and all heroines look the same in your mind as you “head write”?
Yes. They do. I know what I want in a character’s physical attributes. When they talk or act in my head, I see them very clearly. If anything, I relate them to a celebrity’s looks to get a better image. It makes writing about and describing them much easier.
8. Do you eat comfort food when writing? If so, what food inspires your imagination?
Actually, I don’t eat a lot of junk-food. I do have to start my mornings with coffee or some type of caffeinated beverage though. I guess caffeine stimulates my imagination. By far, the best inspiration for me is music. I’d choose music over food any day.
9. What hobby do you enjoy when not writing?
The hobbies I enjoy when I’m not writing are playing video games and reading. Yes, I said it! I love acting out other people’s lives in role-playing games and in first-person shooters. Believe it or not, there are games for everyone, including ones about writers like Alan Wake. Of course, I wouldn’t be a published author if I never studied my craft reading books.
10. What’s your strongest point as a writer?
My strongest point as a writer is researching information for my novels. No matter what topic I choose, I find what I need. I guess I know where to look, but enjoying the process also helps, too. I love history, and sometimes I get so carried away, I find new ideas for more books. I’d say it’s almost like hitting two birds with one stone.
11. What is your favorite romance book that you’ve read?
My first and to this day favorite romance I ever read was A Rose In Winter by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I wanted to write a story like her. I couldn’t imagine a better book where the reader doesn’t feel every emotion while reading it.
12. You’re on a remote island with a handsome man, a computer, and a “mysterious” source of electricity to power your computer. What do you do?
Well, I’d spend my days in love’s splendor, penning the best romance novels I could write. Time would no longer be against me. What wouldn’t I do with such opportunity?
13. What genre would you like to try writing in but hasn’t yet done so? Why?
The genre I would like to try writing in is Thriller. I’ve written a long poem with the theme once, and I have an idea for a story, but I don’t know how to go about the suspense part of it. Of course, I’ve seen movies and read books the same genre, but it’s much harder to write than you think. Right now, I’m much better at writing romance and happy endings.
14. Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Chats, or Twitter. Which do you like best and why?
By far I love Facebook the best. I’ve been on the social networking website for a while now and I feel it offers more options for writers in terms of promotion/marketing. You can have groups, pages, ads, personal pages, and share links. Besides, I like having the option to write a long message or wall post. What can’t you do with Facebook?
Tell us where to find you: You can find more information about Diva Jefferson and her book, To Love An Irishman by visiting her website, http://divajefferson.com or my blog at http://diva-jefferson.blogspot.com.
Twitter: www.twitter.com/diva_jefferson
Facebook: www.facebook.com/divajefferson
Publisher: http://blackopalbooks.com
Anything else you’d like to add?
Readers can buy her book at:
www.amazon.com,
www.barnesandnoble.com,
www.smashwords.com, and
www.allromancebooks.com
Book Excerpt: http://www.blackopalbooks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=162
Liv Rancourt and Debbie Christiana have a couple things in common. Both are published authors with Black Opal Books and are thrilled and excited to each have a short story included in Rayne Hall’s anthology, BITES: Ten Tales of Vampires. To celebrate the release of BITES, Liv and Debbie thought it might be fun to have a conversation about (what else?) writing and vampires.
LR: So when you heard that Rayne wanted to put together a collection of vampire stories, what interested you about the project?
DC: Two things. I’ve taken many online classes and mini workshops with Rayne. She’s a wonderful teacher and makes you work hard and keep at it until you get it right. In even attempting to submit a story, I knew it had to be of a certain caliber or it wouldn’t be accepted. It was challenge I wanted to see if I was up to. I was thrilled when I got the green light. I also think it speaks highly for you and all the authors she chose. Second, I love vampires.
DC: What interested you?
LR: I was on Twitter one morning and happened to catch a tweet from Rayne that said she was doing a survey and wanted to know what people found fascinating about vampires. I was in the middle of promoting my novella A Vampire’s Deadly Delight (available HERE from Black Opal Books), and after tweeting back and forth a couple times, I gave up and sent her a (long!) email, detailing why I liked to write about them. She responded with, “Well, I have this anthology…” Turns out I had a story she liked and we were set. And I was most pleased to see that you had a story in Bites too. I loved Twin Flames, and it’s nice to be in such great company.
DC: This isn’t your first anthology. What do you find is the best part of having a story in a collection?
LR: Getting to play with other writers. I don’t have a lot of experience with promotion, but I do know that doing it on your own is hard. With an anthology, it’s a team effort. Go team!
LR: What do you like about having a piece in an anthology?
DC: Having anything you’ve written published is always thrilling and exciting. Working with Rayne was a pleasure. I knew you from Black Opal Books and your novella A Vampire’s Deadly Delight (check out my review!) and three other authors. It’s nice to see everyone’s hard work pay off. Now I’m familiar with five talented writers I didn’t know before. It’s a good way to put yourself out there to readers as well as meet other authors.
DC: How did you become interested in writing about vampires?
LR: Vampires make great characters because they have so much baggage. They bring up issues of life and death, good and evil, contagion, the soul, power and control; there’s just a whole lot of stuff to work with. Writing speculative fiction or paranormal is a way of dealing with hard issues with a safety net. I like to say that vampires are my spoonful of sugar that helps reality go down.
LR: Your piece, The Land of the Rising Sun, took an unexpected approach to the vampire myth. What was the seed for that story and how did you grow it?
DC: I was in a Red Cross mobile bus giving blood. It was last March and the horrific earthquake and tsunami had just hit Japan. They had a small television on and the watching the people pulled from the wreckage was heartbreaking. For some strange reason I thought…you know a group of vampires would make an excellent search and rescue team. They’re strong. They have no need for food or water and can sniff out a human better than any dog. The downside was they might want to take a bite out of the survivors. Laying there with five other people with a bag of blood hanging from their arm, a light bulb went off. An exclusive blood drive held for vampires who chose to help humans instead of hurt them. Inspiration sometimes comes from weird places.
DC: The characters, both human and vampire in your story Tangled Dreams, are knowledgeable in Gregorian chant. Are you a natural lover of ancient music or did you research the subject?
LR: Well…[blushing hard]…in one of the first lines of the story, the main character identifies herself as a choir geek. That would be me talking right there. I’ve sung in choirs off and on since grade school, and in church choirs since about 1990. My voice and temperament suite singing chant, and I’ve made something of a study of it in the last ten years or so. I’m not an expert by any means, and I’m always a little nervous that the Early Music Police might nail me for something or other someday. I like being able to share what I know, though, and hope that someone might pick up the story and want to know more about chant because of it.
LR: What vampire(s) have had the most impact on you?
DC: I saw the 1922 Nosferatu silent film one Halloween weekend when I was a teenager. The shadow of him on the staircase with his long fingers is one of the creepiest images I’ve ever seen.
Well that’s our take. What’s yours? Why do you like vampires? Do you have questions that we didn’t address? Put them in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer them. Thanks very much for reading along!
© 2012 by Liv Rancourt & Debbie Christiana
Liv can be found on-line at www.liv-rancourt.blogspot.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/liv.rancourt or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LivRancourt.
Debbie can be found on-line at www.debbiechristiana.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Debbie-Christiana/152091691536121?ref=ts and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/debchristiana.
It’s an age-old question. How much work do you do before you sit down to write? I read once that Emily Dickinson composed everything on little scraps of paper, with very few line-outs. She didn’t change words after writing them down. That suggests that either her muse was VERY smart, or she pretty much thought things through before she even got started.
I’d guess Emily Dickinson’s muse was smart, but also that she planned before she wrote. I would say, and this is just me talking here, that she was a plotter, not a pantser. Maybe that’s not a fair analogy, I mean, clearly there are more resources available now than there were in the 19th century – resources that allow you to do as many re-writes as you want if you’re not happy with how things are coming out. Maybe if Emily had access to a laptop and a thumb drive, her whole approach would have been different.
Or maybe not.
Some people can sit down with a good idea and just go with it, letting the story unfold as they put it on the paper or type it into a Word doc. They write by the seat of their pants, if you will. Through the revision process, they make adjustments, strengthening the characters and tightening the plot. For that initial draft, however, they’re writing blind. I’ve tried that approach and you know what? I’m not so good at it.
I’m much better if I lay the groundwork ahead of time. I make an outline that shows me the goal/motivation/conflict of each scene, and I create detailed character sketches, because the more I know about the characters, the more I can work into the story as it goes, making it richer and, hopefully, more fun to read. That’s not to say that once I get started writing things won’t change, because they surely do. I’ll tweak stuff right up until, well, there isn’t a piece I’ve written that I wouldn’t like to go back and revise one more time. A lot of brainstorming happens, though, before I open a new doc.
One of the resources that has helped me the most in pulling things together before I start is the Debra Dixon’s book Goal, Motivation & Conflict. This book taught me to make every scene count by understanding and articulating what each of the characters were trying to accomplish in any given section of the work. All the clever dialogue or fabulous narrative in the world doesn’t do much good if there’s nothing really happening underneath it all. Knowing the “why” informs the “what” and the “how.”
What’s my motivation, Mr. DeMille?
It’s a valid question. I like to know my characters, to understand what it is they ultimately want and need. I created a character template that’s cobbled together from a couple different worksheets I found on-line. Here’s a link to one of the sources I borrowed, the blog of author Jody Hedlund. The other worksheet I stole from was used by Jenny Meyerhoff. Check them both out, and then put together your own version. Try it out on a couple of characters and massage it until you get it right.
The other thing that helps make the characters real to me is to find pictures that show me who they are. And not just faces – I want bedroom shots, exteriors of houses, and views of the city where the story is set. I’ll copy anything that tells me more about who these people are and what’s going on in the story. I used to keep them all in a folder on my thumb drive, but now I found an even easier resource. Pinterest – an online pin-board.
I make a board for each story, and populate it with images that are related in some way. Here’s a link to the storyboard for Tangled Dreams, a short piece that’ll be coming out soon. And here’s a link to another short story I’m in the process of revising, The Ring Toss. I’ve seen other author’s sites where, rather than boards that are unique to each piece, they have boards for characters, scenery, or period costumes. Pinterest is a pretty cool site (although it can be a very easy way to kill hours at a time) and it offers a nice way of organizing images that enrich your writing.
All of this process takes time – especially if you get sucked into a never-ending game of ‘just one more page’ on Pinterest. And people who have unlimited time for writing are the exception, not the rule. I find, though, that doing the prep work is really more efficient, because I don’t end up with tangents that go nowhere or get caught up in revision hell.
I have a healthy respect for writers who can spin whole novels with nothing to guide them but their muse. I have even more respect for Emily Dickinson, who did all the prep-work in her head, before writing down a thing.
© 2012 by Liv Rancourt
I recently attended the Writer’s Digest Conference in New York City and had the most amazing time. I highly recommend attending a conference in your area that matches your interest. For me, the WDC offered a number of workshops and seminars that included ideas for promotion, the importance of conflict and suspense and an overview of publishing in the 21st century.
One of my favorite seminars dealt with conflict and suspense in writing. James Scott Bell inspired our group for an hour and I’d like to share some of what I learned.
1. A great story = life with all the dull parts taken out.
Connecting to readers and making them feel like everything happening in the story, be it romance, comedy, science fiction, could actually happen. As writers we need to remember that reading is about connection and if we aren’t connecting with our writers in a real way, they won’t continue to read our stories.
2. We have to build lead characters that our readers will actually care about.
According to Mr. Bell, there are three main types of lead characters:
The Positive Lead (hero) – represents the values of the community (of the readers’ community). Be sure to give him/her flaws that are believable and relatable. This type of lead character is generally an ordinary person caught up in extraordinary circumstances. (think Indiana Jones)
The Negative Lead – This type of lead character often starts out being someone or doing something that readers, as a community, don’t like. They will often vindicate themselves at the end of a story. (think Scarlet O’Hara or Ebenezer Scrooge)
The Anti-Hero – This character generally is a loner and does not want to be part of any community. They aren’t villains, they just don’t follow rules given by the general population and don’t care about what other people think.
3. The stakes of our stories should involve “death.” And we need to figure out how to make the stakes feel like death to the characters involved.
Death includes:
Physical death – a character actual dies
Professional death – a character’s career is on the line
Psychological death – a character dealing with emotional, psychological issues
4. Open stories with a disturbance or the possibility of trouble. Readers are looking for trouble. They want to worry about a character.
5. Opposition – Not always a villain!
There must always be a force opposing character that is stronger, in some way, than the main character (physically, collectively, psychologically). (think Tommy Lee Jones in the Fugitive – he wasn’t a villain, he was just in opposition to Harrison Ford’s character)
The behavior of the opposition must be justified in their own mind. Give them a reason for the opposition. Clarifying justification to the reader will enhance the reader’s empathy for them. (Why do we care so much about Hannibal Lecter?)
6. Scenes: create a sense of worry, fear or terror. This worry should prevent total communication. Also explain the viewpoint of the characters with objectives. Will they or won’t they accomplish their objective? If they do accomplish the objective early on, it should lead to further trouble.
7. Remember, minor characters can be key to suspenseful scenes.
All fiction should have some element of suspense
© 2012 by Christine Hughes
At first there were records. Long play or LP’s and singles that were about half a size of the LPs. We spun them on the phonographs or later called the record players or turntables.
Where I came from we called them gramo- fons. When the head lowered on the round spinning disk, we’d hear that cracking first, then the music would start. Some records were played over and over again, until the darn thing got worn out and the record skipped. The turntable and record (circa 1950) shown above replaced the antique phonograph (Victor V, circa 1907) shown below:
In the eighties tapes or cassettes and cassettes recorders eventually replaced records and record players.
Remember the boombox? They are still around but they don’t look like this anymore.
They were compact and portable and more practical. Listeners could get blank tapes and record their own music straight from the radio. I’m dating myself here, but it’s ok. I loved making mixed tapes. Raise your hand if you did too.
It even has a definition on Wiki: “AMix Tape or Mixed Tape is a compilation of songs recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto an audio Compact Cassette.”
Then in the nineties came the compact disks or the CDs. The readable surface of a Compact Disc includes a spiral track wound tightly enough to cause light to diffract into a full visible spectrum.
And now digital technology, Apple and Web 3.0 brought us the new revolution in recordings: MP3s. iPhone, iPod, iTunes. We can download the music, movies, videos you name it to our portable devices.
“Just as the music industry went through a major change with the rise of digital music and MP3s, the publishing industry is undergoing a paradigm shift away from traditional print models. In 2009 the current economic conditions have made it more expensive than ever to produce printed content. Rising costs of raw materials for printing and costs for distribution and delivery have all played a major factor in the decline of print. Couple these production factors with a sharp decline in advertising sales and a steady incline in sales of electronic reading devices and you can understand why publishers are looking for new digital publishing business models. The argument used to be that people would never read a book, newspaper or magazine on a screen, but that argument is fading fast. A majority of people will spend eight hours or more a day at work looking at a computer screen. Younger generations and children have been using computers and the Internet their whole life. Reading on screen has become more comfortable and convenient.”
(source: http://www.databasepublish.com/blog/what-epub)
Yes, the numbers tell us of the vast revenues generated in eBook sales. And no one was more surprised than me when a few of my friends acknowledge they finally broke down and bought an eReader. After they solemnly announced they’d NEVER do such thing.
They said they didn’t feel as if they read a book if they didn’t hold a book in their hands. But, will the book as we know it ever be replaced by electronic file just as mp3s and iPods replaced records, cassettes and even CDs would become obsolete? The recordings of written word have been around since the dawn of humanity, as we see it in this picture (left) of Sumerian language cuneiform script clay tablet, circa 2400-2200 BC.
But in a way the technology is taking us back. The first words were recorded on tablets such as this one (left), called Bas¡ka tablet, 
is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian language, dating from the year 1100. Quite a difference from today’s Sylvania 7″ Touch Screen Android Tablet (right).
From Egyptian papyrus scroll showing the god Osiris and the weighing of the heart(left)To computer scrolling (right).
So will the traditional book disappear from the face of the Earth as in is depicted in “The book of Eli” 2010 American post-apocalyptic action film? The story(below on left) revolves around Eli, a nomad in a post-apocalyptic world, who is told by a voice to deliver his copy of a mysterious book to a safe location on the West Coast of the United States. 
The history of the post-war world is explained along the way as is the importance of Eli’s task. Not the kind of world anyone would like to live in. No books of any kind = no knowledge.
My conclusion: the disappearance of a book as we know it might happen but most likely will not occur in our life time or any time soon after that. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Go ahead and leave your comments. Anything goes.
© 2012 by Zrinka Jelic
Bonded by Crimson by Zrinka Jelic, released January 28, 2012