Category: A Writer’s Take……

A Chat with Author, Julia London (part 2)

working on the train
working on the train

TS.  My kind of interview…one sprinkled with terrific tongue-in-cheek humor.

Q. Who is your muse at the moment?

JL. My muse is a sloven blob, and she wants to eat chocolate and float in the pool and watch Real Housewives of Name Your City. She’s not much help, to be honest. I kick her out, and then she lurks around the windows, peering in, shouting things I can’t really hear. But every once in awhile, she comes up with a gem. Just every once in awhile. For the most part, she does not earn her keep around here.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

JL. I have always written. I have had many jobs that required good, technical writing skills. But somewhere along the way I was bored with my jobs in public administration. I had never aspired to be a fiction writer, but one day I picked up an Iris Johansen book at a garage sale. I really love historical fiction at the time. I didn’t recognize the book as a romance because I never read with any eye toward genre. I just read books that appealed to me and never thought about their category. The Johansen book really appealed to me because of the guy on the back cover, LOL. It was a great read, and an easy read after a stressful day at work. I read more books like the Iris Johansen book, and I began to think I could actually do this. Turns out, I could.

Q. How long after that were you published?

JL. Very quickly. I wrote a book and learned how to construct a novel, how to build an arc of a story into it. So then I wrote a shorter, better one, which became my first book, The Devil’s Love. I was extremely lucky that the first book I wrote and sent to an agent caught her eye. Continue reading “A Chat with Author, Julia London (part 2)”

Interview with Julia London, best selling author of Regency Romances

Julia.London.203,200_I confess!  I read them along with several million other women.  I love the regency period when men were gentlemen and women were ladies, in the drawing room.   Subtle, and full of innuendo, I like something left to my own imagination. And Julia London delivers!  Now I landed an interview with one of my favorites.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please provide a photo/s of your shed, room, closet, barn….) Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.

JL. This is my current office, however I’ve just invested in a treadmill desk and am about to change the London.3way I spend my day, as in upright and not hunched over. But where is that sucker going to go? I haven’t figured that out yet.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

JL. I can’t sit down and write until I’ve exercised in some way. I have a variety of activities to start the day: either taking my dog out for a jog (rather, he trots happily along, while I wheeze through a jog), yoga, biking or Pilates. It clears my head and gets the creative juices flowing. I’ve worked out a lot of plots while sweating profusely.

Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?

JL. I majored in political science with an emphasis on Middle Eastern Studies. Mainly because I paid my own way through college with a patchwork of jobs and scholarships. The best was a National Defense Education Act scholarship for which all I had to do was study a critical language for three years. The deal was that if the country needed your language skills within some specified time frame after graduation, they could call on you. So I studied Arabic (I know, right?) and took some classes in Middle Eastern religion, economics, and culture. I should point out that I have forgotten most of it. As it turned out, there wasn’t a big call for that expertise. Continue reading “Interview with Julia London, best selling author of Regency Romances”

The Dark Days of…Poetry

Time for a bit of Bukowski and yours truly!

how is your heart? Charles Bukowski ©poet, wisdom, Charles Bukowski

during my worst times
on the park benches
in the jails
or living with
whores
I always had this certain
contentment–
I wouldn’t call it
happiness–
it was more of an inner
balance
that settled for
whatever was occurring
and it helped in the
factories
and when relationships
went wrong
with the
girls.

it helped
through the
wars and the
hangovers
the backalley fights
the
hospitals.

to awaken in a cheap room
in a strange city and
pull up the shade–
this was the craziest kind of
contentment
and to walk across the floor Continue reading “The Dark Days of…Poetry”

How to Write a Novel….the writing Process!

writing, blog, authors, create

……is there a wrong way??

NO!  There is no ‘wrong’ process when writing your story….but, as I and other authors (I’ve interviewed here on my blog) have stressed….be certain that you HAVE a process.

1.  Write about what you know.  If you are a beginner…and we all were at one time…write a story about something you know or have had first hand experience with.

2.  If the idea of writing a novel  (75,000+ words)  is way too daunting,  write a short story (3,000 words) or a series of short stories.  Write a novella. (16-25,000 words).   After writing three full length novels, I decided that my mystery series The World of Murder would be short novels.  I didn’t run out of story,  I just believe that there is a market for short novels (24–35,000 words).

3.  If your subject is something that you know nothing or very little about the Internet is a powerful tool.  Let me give you some examples:  My aunt ran away to Alaska in the 1920’s to homestead.  I knew her story but I knew very little about Alaska at the turn of the last century.  What did Fairbanks look like then?  It was little more than a trading post.  How many acres did you get when you homesteaded?  80. What tribe of native Alaskans were in my story-area and what language did they speak?  Were there hunting ‘tags’ or seasons for hunting in those days?

Another example are my murder mysteries that are heavy  on police procedures and crime scene investigation.  I know a lot but certainly don’t know everything.  Between the Internet, local law enforcement and the Medical examiners,  I have pretty much everything I need in the way of research.  Book #4, The Angel of Murder is about the Catholic religion and confession.  I am not a Catholic so I called my friend’s priest, Father Gabe, and he was incredibly kind and helpful.  DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR HELP!  I asked a private detective and a priest, BOTH STRANGERS, and they gave willingly of their time and knowledge.

4. What if my writing process is wrong?  NO!  There is no wrong process. Just be certain that you have a writing process.  Whether it’s with meticulous outlines and story notes or just writing from your gut. My personal process is this:  An idea forms and begins writing itself in my mind.   I joke about ‘slamming  my story down first’.  It’s more than an outline (which I don’t use) and less than the finished product.  I type 80 words a minute so when I say I slam it down, I mean I slam it down.  I frequently write out of sequence.  Sometimes the Epilogue is written before the end of the story.  Sometimes the prologue is written after the first few chapters. That’s WEIRD’, you say?   No, not really,  the story such as it is at that point is feeding me.  Right now, AA.Cover.bridgeofmurderas I am writing Book #6, The Bridge of Murder, some chapters are un-numbered as I’m not certain where they fit, only that they are part of the story.

5.  Have people you trust read your manuscript.  They aren’t standing as close to it as you are.  But, be certain that they can look at the work and give a constructive critique.  When I say trust, I’m not talking about them stealing your work,  I’m talking about trusting that they will be honest with you.  I have two such people in my circle;  one in particular.  He is honest and wants the very best for me and out of me.

6. Poor Man’s Copyright:  I’ve done this for years.  When I have four or five pages of a manuscript completed, I make up a title page, date it and then mail it to myself.  When you get it back in the mail, be certain you DON’T open it.  Just tuck it away in a safe place.  Courts (if it ever came to that) will honor the post marked and unopened envelope.  Of course you have saved the date of the saved draft of the first time you worked on it in your computer.

7.  Re-write, re-write, then re-write some more!   Read your work over and over.  You don’t have to read it from start to finish….that will make your eyes cross and make you want to give up.  Read sections,  edit, re-write, make it as good as you possibly can.

Want to learn more about developing rich and interesting characters?  Want to try writing a little poetry or a Haiku?  Want to learn more about that all important ‘first sentence’ of your story?  Check out my Creative Writer’s Journals.  There are six ‘how to’ sections and 275 pages of lined, blank pages for your writing.

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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!     
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The Trans-G Kid, a New Short Play

NEW in my collection of ten minute plays for the classroom or drama department.

Trans.G.BookCoverPreview.doThe Trans-G Kid

I was inspired recently, watching celebrity transgender headlines, to add to my collection of ten minute plays for the classroom. The media has put a ‘better late than never’ and much needed spotlight on the teenagers who are seeking their ‘true selves’. In the process, these teens have been living in fear, confusion and depression, having to hide their feelings. Alone, with a huge secret, many of them look to suicide as a permanent solution to end their pain and uncertainty. The suicide statistics in the teen transgender community is staggering.

The Trans-G Kid was born. My short plays for the classroom cover teen issues in real time. Bullying, cutting, running away, teen dating violence, suicide, drugs, and broken families. If my play opens a single dialogue between student and teacher or child and parent I will consider myself a success! Continue reading “The Trans-G Kid, a New Short Play”

Chuck Dixon Interview (part 3)

a.comicbookstore.BBTWhen I achieved doing this interview, I won’t lie.  I wanted to run into Stuart’s comic book store and yell, ‘I’m interviewing Chuck Dixon!’ For those of you who have no idea who Stuart is…well you are not living to your full capacity if you’re not watching, The Big Bang Theory’.
Chuck was so generous with his answers so let’s sit back and enjoy the final part.
Q. What makes a writer great?

CD. If a writer’s work can survive a few generations past his initial readership. History is filled with writers who were considered white hot in their era and forgotten only a few years past their death and never re-discovered.

Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like for you?

CD. Everyone works differently. No writer’s approach is the same as another….. Continue reading “Chuck Dixon Interview (part 3)”

More With Chuck Dixon, Comic Book Icon (part 2)

a.Dixon.comic.book-dixonDixon:  ‘I’m strictly a writer. I write the scripts that the artist works from. It’s a format much like a screenplay, broken down panel-by-panel with descriptions of what should appear in each panel. And all the dialogue and captions in place. I wrote quite a few Simpsons comic book stories over a ten year period.’

Q. Was that a challenge to switch to a novel format and ‘point-of-view’?

CD. Mostly it was the intimidation factor. In comics, my chosen medium, the bench for writing talent is pretty thin. But in prose fiction I’m up against thousands of years of awesome writing. I mean, who the hell do I think I am going to work in the same shop as Alexander Dumas or Jane Austen?

And now I have to actually write descriptive text that evokes images in the minds of casual readers. In comics my descriptions are utilitarian. I simply tell the artist what needs to be in the panel. It’s not artful in any way. In prose fiction I need to be more subtle; more circumspect. More of a wordsmith which is something I have never considered myself to be. But pacing, plotting, characterization and all the rest are the same for comics as they are for prose. Continue reading “More With Chuck Dixon, Comic Book Icon (part 2)”

Interview | Chuck Dixon, Legendary Comic Book Writer

TS:  What Julia Childs was to cuisine, what Stirling Moss was to racing, what John Glenn was to space, ChuckDixon.new.photo Chuck Dixon is to the comic book and animated TV world. Chuck Dixon is a veteran comic book writer with thousands of titles to his name including a record run on Batman at DC. Much to his fans’ delight Chuck has recently moved into the genre of true crime fiction. I’ll be honest with my readers, I hadn’t read a comic book since Archie and Veronica. While doing my research for this interview, wherever I went in the comic book world, to this day, the aficionados told me I was in the presence of royalty. Today we’re going to read about Chuck’s writing process, where he finds the characters for his stories and what led him to murder mysteries.

Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing? (please provide a photo/s of your shed, room, closet, barn….) Or tell us about your ‘dream’ work space.

CD. I work in what is described by realtors as a “home office.” It’s basically a cubby hole filled with books and toys. It’s where I work since moving to Florida. My dream work space was the office I had up north; a big addition to the house with built in bookshelves and lots of room for artwork on the walls.

Q. Do you have any special rituals when you sit down to write? (a neat work space, sharpened #2 pencils, legal pad, cup of tea, glass of brandy, favorite pajamas, etc.)

CD Does checking emails count? A neat work space is NOT a priority. All I require is enough desk space for my keyboard. A mug of mate or tea is nice.

Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?

CD. When I was a kid I found the metal-munching mice in the Bullwinkle cartoons frightening. For some reason the idea of a huge robotic mouse climbing to the top of the house to eat our TV antenna unsettled me.
Q. You are such an icon in the comic book and animated TV world. What inspired you to switch from that genre to writing fiction?

CD. I simply got tired of waiting for someone else to give me permission to write. The possibilities offered by digital publishing are endless. Why go through the painful, tedious, and often fruitless, process of pitches and development when I can simply go from idea to finished product on my own? I turned to prose because of the massive production expenses involved with doing comics. My only investment is my time. And, truth to tell, there are a lot more people who read prose than read comics. I’m reaching readers now that I never could have reached writing comic books.

Stay tuned!  Part two and three are scheduled for Sept 28th and Oct.3
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DON’T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS featuring INTERVIEWS with  best-selling AUTHORS!      Grant Blackwood (Tom Clancy) in Sept. and Julia London in October and Matt Jorgenson later this winter. Coming in December!  My review of a new release by Dean Koontz, 
Ashley Bell.

To receive a free audio book and my  blog, blogs, blogger, writer, author, playwright, books, plays,fiction  sign up on the home page and enter your email address.  I love comments!  Take the time to write one at the bottom of the post.

 

 

A Day In The Life Of A Writer

anxnst.mouseIt’s time once again to share with other writers, my hopes, my fears, my successes, my setbacks. My days as a writer look very much like a pizza loaded with toppings.

My time at my keyboard, has been filled feverishly working with an editor on The Art of Murder because a publisher is sniffing around my campfire.  That is to say, the senior editor for a publishing co. said my mystery series had ‘tremendous potential‘ but wasn’t quite there yet.  Now we wait and see if my editor and I were able to do what they needed in order to offer me a contract.

Yes, even though I am moderately successful as an indie author, I am still chasing a traditional publisher when I stumble across one.  Continue reading “A Day In The Life Of A Writer”

Successor to Tom Clancy, an Interview with Grant Blackwood (part 2)

Part Two of my Interview with best selling author, Grant Blackwood, successor to Tom Clancy

blackwood-portrait-253x300Q. Who or what is your “Muse” at the moment ?

A. I don’t have a muse, per se. If anything, my muse is the drive to write stories that entertain readers. That’s the little voice that sits on my shoulder. Too often writers fall into the muse trap — believing that they’re creativity and productivity is at the whim of something “out there”, something fleeting. Start writing. The muse will be there.

Q. When did you begin to write seriously?

A. July of 1987, two months after I got out of the Navy. I’d been thinking about writing a book since I was eight or nine. That morning in July I caught myself on a good day. Instead of saying, “maybe tomorrow”, Continue reading “Successor to Tom Clancy, an Interview with Grant Blackwood (part 2)”