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Tag: storytelling
Missing! and Feared Dead…a Review
5 out of 5 quills The COUNTERFEIT HEIRESS
by Tasha Alexander
A fourth of the way through this intricately crafted story I wondered to myself if it was based on a true story. And whad’ya know? Truth is stranger than fiction. It’s based very loosely on an American Heiress who recreated the physical environment of her own captivity after she was rescued. And that’s all I’m going to say about the that! It’s a treat!
It’s early 19th century, England, and our two favorite sleuths, Emily and Colin are called upon to find a missing heiress….missing for over twenty years; most likely dead. Tasha Alexander takes us (chapter by chapter) from their clever detective work to the room where the heiress is being kept. At no point in the story is the reader certain whether she is alive or dead. How can a woman survive in a coffin-like room? Continue reading “Missing! and Feared Dead…a Review”
Interview with author, Mike Wells (part 2)
Q. How long after that were you published?
A. If you mean traditionally published, I was never published that way. I had four different NYC and London agents over the years, and had the opportunity several times, but at the end of the day I am too much of a control freak. I can’t stand the idea of letting other people title my books, write my blurbs, jacket copy, design my covers, and generally market and distribute the book. To me, a book is one entity, and all those things are part of it. Different facets of the final product. As soon as I start writing a new book I start thinking about the title, the cover image, the blurb, the synopsis, and I often stop and work on these things in the middle of the book. This helps me focus. This is the reason I self-published and probably will always self-publish. It’s impossible to have any control over those things in traditional publishing.
Q. What makes a writer great?
A. Lots of readers who think so. Full stop. Writing (fiction writing) is art, and all art is subjective. There is no absolute standard to judge it by. Plenty of experts even think Shakespeare was a “bad” writer.
Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?
A. It’s quite a mess, honestly. Continue reading “Interview with author, Mike Wells (part 2)”
Interview with successful self-published Author, Mike Wells
An Interview with Mike Wells *** ‘Unputdownable Thrillers’
Q. Where do you write? Do you have a special room, shed, barn, special space for your writing?
A. I like to write outside if the weather is warm enough, which is one reason I live most of the year in Cyprus. I usually write on our veranda, or at an outdoor cafe by the beach. I like to move around to different places, keeps things stirred up.
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.)
A. No. Those kinds of things (IMO) can turn into excuses not to write, I broke myself of anything like that a long time ago. I’m generally a very flexible and adaptable person, don’t get dependent much on physical elements like that.
Q. Could you tell us something about yourself that we might not already know?
A. I can’t throw up. Continue reading “Interview with successful self-published Author, Mike Wells”
It Shouldn’t Work….A Review “Suspicion at Seven”
Rating: 5 out of 5 quills “Suspicion at Seven” by Ann Purser
These plots shouldn’t work……but they do in the most charming and understated way. The owner of New Brooms, Lois Meade is an amateur sleuth and has a team of ‘cleaners’ (merry maids) that keep their ears to the ground when foul play occurs. Cunningly simple and a delight for readers.
The setting is a small village in rural England where Lois has lived most of her life. She has raised three
children and now lives with her husband, Derek, and her mother, Gran, who rules the house with an ungloved hand. (no velvet gloves here!)
Village life and all the characters that make up a community are artfully woven into each mystery. Continue reading “It Shouldn’t Work….A Review “Suspicion at Seven””
Don’t forget to go back and……
I was recently working on my blog, and fiction that I had written over a year ago I realized as I cut and pasted excerpts from my writings (in preparation to posting on my own site, www.poetrysoup.com and other sites) that with all the flurry of editing, rewriting, deleting, (I have grown to love my delete key) and proofing I rarely stop to enjoy the final product.
And when I do go back, it’s always with an editor’s eye and I am very critical. I could have done so much better! Do you ever feel that way?
So as I was organizing and doing the housekeeping that a web site requires, I took a moment. As I chose and inserted excerpts, I stopped to just enjoy the poetry of the words, the dry humor in a line of dialogue, or a quip from one of my fictional characters…. Continue reading “Don’t forget to go back and……”
Where will your writing take you?
I was going through some old photos to update my gallery here on my site and I came across this wonderful production shot of Latrelle Bright, as Billie Holiday. The Renaissance Guild in San Antonio, Texas featured “Scent of Magnolia” in their OneAct Series back in…..gosh, I want to say 2003. Originally I was the playwright, Latrelle was directing it and we had an actress who could sing. We lost our actress so Latrelle (an accomplished actor) stepped in as Billie Holiday and I stepped up as director. Happy Accident time! She was fabulous! Sang all of Billie’s songs acappella. Who knew she had such a lovely voice? Standing “O’s” every performance with lots of tears from the audience. (A writer’s dream)
Latrelle is now a happy resident of Chicago (where it all started for me with this script; funny how that worked out) and is pursuing her teaching career in the performing arts.
What a journey Billie and I have had. Originally I wrote this stage play for a friend Continue reading “Where will your writing take you?”
Skip to the Head of the Line
My book store is just a click away! USE THIS CODE 336699 AND GET 10% OFF of any BOOK purchase UNTIL November 31st. The Web Site has a new feature: you can now buy an autographed copy of any book directly from the author using your Visa, MasterCard through PayPal. And you don’t need a PayPal account to use it. It’s so easy!
Scripts about bullying and other teen issues. Great for the
classroom!
Fiction. The new mystery series, ‘The World of Murder’ with Detectives O’Roarke and Garcia.
Don’t miss “Women Outside the Walls”
and”Wild Violets“
Interview with best selling author, Anne Gracie (part 2)
Q. What makes a writer great?
A. I think unforgettable stories and characters. People talk about beautiful turns of phrases, and lovely writing is a joy to read, but unforgettable characters and wonderful stories makes a writer’s work live on. Dickens created some of the most unforgettable characters in literature, and some amazing stories and so his work lives on, even if people don’t read him — his characters and stories have entered popular culture so deeply that people who’ve never heard of Dickens know Scrooge and Miss Haversham and Fagin.
Q. and the all important: What does the process of going from “no book” to “finished book” look like?
A. I think the important thing is to push on. Writers (IMO) tend to give up for two basic reasons — 1) they endlessly tweak and fiddle with the writing, and never get to finish the story. Perfectionism gets in the way. But the best piece of writing advice ever comes from Nora Roberts, also arguably the most prolific and successful writer of popular fiction in the world: “You can fix a bad page but you can’t fix a blank one.” So you need to push on and make yourself finish, even if you think it’s horrible. Then you can either fix it, or work out why it doesn’t work and learn from it. Writing, as with all things, takes practice. Not all the books you write will be publishable — some books have L-plates on them. But often the story idea is good and later, when you’re better at creating the architecture of a novel, you can revisit that early idea.
2) The second reason people don’t finish is…. Continue reading “Interview with best selling author, Anne Gracie (part 2)”
FREE BOOK GIVE-A-WAY! The World of Murder
‘The Taste of Murder‘ has just been released and ‘The Art of Murder‘ (revised) has a new cover and two new chapters.
YOU CAN WIN A FREE BOOK! Just like my page on Facebook www.facebook.com/writeratplay
and follow me on Twitter @writeratplay4. Write a comment about this post letting me know which book you would like to receive and your USA mailing address. A contact email would be good.
In Book 5 in the series The World of Murder, Detectives O’Roarke and Garcia have a cold case dumped on their desk. Despite their objections that they ‘don’t do cold cases’ their Commander tells them that they do now since the new Mayor has asked for them…. Continue reading “FREE BOOK GIVE-A-WAY! The World of Murder”