writing Archives - Page 41 of 82 - Trisha Sugarek, Author, Playwright & Poet

Any Day Now by Robyn Carr ~~ A Review

5 out of 5 quills A Review

Robyn Carr has continued the story at ‘Sullivan’s Crossing’ with a sequel and we fans can only hope that she is planning a trilogy.

In ‘What We Find‘ we fall in love with Cal and Maggie and their story. Set in the mountains at a campground and off the Colorado and Continental Divide Trails (that start at the Mexican border and end in Canada), Cal and Maggie serendipitous meet and try NOT to fall in love. They both have emotional baggage and are determined not visit it on anyone else. But Cupid has other ideas.

In ‘Any Day Now‘ (the sequel) Cal’s sister, Sierra, comes to visit her brother, seeking a fresh start of her own. Maybe Sullivan’s Crossing is only going to be a brief stopover, but it’s a good place to find some peace and get her head on straight. She’s put her troubled past behind her but the path forward isn’t easy or clear to her. A visit with her big brother, who she hasn’t seen in years, seems to be a good option.

Not wanting to burden or depend on anyone, Sierra is surprised to find the Crossing offers so much more than a place to hide in. Cal and Maggie welcome her into their busy lives and she quickly finds herself bonding with Sully, the funny and quirky campground owner. But then her past catches up to her.

The bonus with the second book is we get to see how Cal and Maggie are faring. It’s Sierra’s story but the other characters from book #1 are a strong presence which is a delight. Robyn’s writing never disappoints. She has a strong voice and writes beautiful stories.
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter and in August we say ‘hello’ to Cheryl Hollon.

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Motivational Moments…for Writers #30

Pride Yourself on Your Great Dialogue!

Definition: the conversational element of literary or dramatic composition

I’ve often wondered if authors whom I’ve read, like Edna Ferber, wrote pages and pages of narrative/description because they never mastered the art of dialogue. Hmmm.

I got lucky because I began my writing career writing stage plays. And they are nothing but dialogue. So early on I learned from, not only writing plays but, reading plays…thousands of them over the years.

To be good at it, I think one of the tricks is to write more and more dialogue and then write some more. You have to be able to get in that character’s head. What do they ‘sound‘ like? Is their grammar messy? The character who hails from the Bronx, for example, is going to cut off words such as: walkin’, talkin’, eatin’, and so forth. There will be more idioms (such as ‘grill’, ‘to front’, ‘rachet’, ‘na’mean, and ‘spaz’) than a person who was raised in a household where grammar and diction were more valued. You have to be able to switch characters and write ‘flavor’ into their speech. How would an eastern Indian, whose first language is not English, ‘sound‘? Now write it that way. How would a southern ‘sound’? Be careful, people from Charleston, S.C. sound totally different from people in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Now, go back over your story and focus on how each character sounds. Is one character’s grammatical habits spilling over into another? Once in awhile I will read over my dialogue and suddenly one of my characters ‘sounds’ like me but they’re not anything like me. I let my own idioms slide right into my character’s mouth. It’s disconcerting because it’s so easy to do. When you’re out and about listen to other people’s speech patterns, idioms and speech habits.

“Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” E.L.Doctorow

“People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.” Logan Pearsall Smith

~~‘As a writer, I marinate, speculate and hibernate.’ Trisha Sugarek ~~

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines. Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter and in August we say ‘hello’ to Cheryl Hollon.

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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Motivational Moments…for Writers #29

All works in a series, sequel or trilogy must stand alone. Therefore the writer must duplicate information (set-up) about the characters, place, time, etc., in each book.

Being an avid reader and fond of series, I noticed that it didn’t bother me that I was reading duplicate information. It struck me that it was probably true of most other readers. I doubt readers even notice unless they are ‘binge’ reading an entire series.

My message here to you other writers, is don’t let it worry you. Each book must be written as if it’s the only book that your reader will read of yours.

It’s also acceptable to throw in teasers from books in the series. For example, I tell (in book #7, World of Murder) of my detective going to a cake tasting in preparation for his wedding. This might ‘tease’ my readers into wanting to know how O’Roarke and Summer met, fell in love, how he proposed, and so on.
And nothing is sweeter than to have a fan ask if there will be a sequel or if the first book will become a series. Both has happened to me!

“words like wine, words like blood, words out of the mouths of past loves dead. words like bullets, words like bees, words for the way the good die and the bad live on…” Charles Bukowski

“Mostly, we authors must repeat ourselves…that’s the truth. We have two or three great moving experiences in our lives…experiences so great and moving that it doesn’t seem at the time that anyone else has been caught up and pounded and dazzled and astonished and beaten and broken and rescued and illuminated and rewarded and humbled in just that way ever before.” F. Scott Fitzgerald

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines. Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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Motivational Moments…for Writers! #28

As writers, we are all guilty of using particular words or phrases WAY TOO MUCH!!

I was recently reading a delightful series by an author but it was very distracting when she used the same phrase over and over.
“Custom glass workroom”. The shop where the story takes place is just four rooms so it is my opinion that:

1] the author needed to change it up; There is an office, a retail room, a classroom and the custom workshop. Just a little chance would make all the difference. For example: ‘the workroom’ and ‘the workshop’ and ‘the specialty glass room’.

2]readers are smart and we should never underestimate their ability to follow along. If they can’t then we, as the writers, have failed at our job.
3] If we miss our idiosyncrasies, and we all have them, then the editor, beta reader, proof reader, etc., should catch it.

My most common ones are the words, ‘just’ and ‘that’. My watchdog, first defense, is to use Word’s ‘find’. Then I review the manuscript looking for when I over use the words and why.
“There is no way of writing well and also of writing easily.” Anthony Trollope

“All fiction is largely autobiographical and much autobiography is, of course, fiction.” P.D. James

Now available! Release date, May 15th.

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines. Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

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How To Write Creatively~~ Writing Tips

For several years I’ve been writing posts for my Blog entitled, ‘Motivational Moments ...for Writers!’ I got to thinking that I should compile all 41 posts into one place. This new, exciting, instructional book is my sharing of over twenty+ years of my experience honing my craft of creative writing.

That first, all important, sentence.
How to develop rich characters.
Writer’s Block.
Procrastination and how to get out of it.
What does it Mean to be an ‘Indie‘ author?
How to handle constructive criticism
…and many more words of encouragement and tips
…including quotes from successful writers such as yourself
AVAILABLE : amazon.com

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS!

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“Writing isn’t a calling; it’s a doing.” T.Sugarek

Motivational Moments…for Writers! #27

I’ve always believed that to be a good writer you must read. Why?

I can only answer for myself. Other writers inspire me to improve my writing skills. This is true of my fiction, stage plays, and poetry.
Their styles are innumerable, their dash extraordinary, the story telling superb. Oh sure, I stumble upon the ‘not so good’ authors but they contribute to my self-confidence. I say to myself, “Oh! So I’m not the absolutely worst writer out there.” I learn from the great ones and I learn from the mediocre.

When I’m not writing, I’m reading. Fiction mostly. I love a good story…and better, a good story-teller. I recently discovered Janet Macleod Trotter, one of our hidden treasures and, I predict, her books will be considered some of the best modern-day classics of our time.

Here are more some quotes that I stumbled across recently and really enjoyed.

“That’s what the greats of literature did — they got their characters up a tree and threw rocks at them…” Robyn Carr (excerpt from ‘What We Find’) Another great weaver of stories.

“Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude.” Sir Thomas Browne

“Technique alone is never enough. You have to have passion. Technique alone is just an embroidered pot holder.” Raymond Chandler

Coming Soon! Release date, May 15th.

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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines.
Johan Thompson (South African author) joined us in April. May’s author will be Cheryl Hollon and in June: Mehreen Ahmed. July: Janet Macleod Trotter, author of Tea Planter’s Daughter

Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!

A Review ~~ “Little White Lies” by Ace Adkins (Robert B. Parker)

(5 out of 5 quills) A Review

Ace Adkins is a brilliant, best-selling author in his own right.

I love his murder mysteries set in the deep south. A South that few people are exposed to unless you and your family have been around for decades.

What truly amazes me is how Ace can write in Robert B. Parker’s voice.

In Little White Lies, Spenser is hired to try and recover a vulnerable woman’s money from a master-con man. Connie Kelly thought she’d found her perfect man on an online dating site. He was silver-haired and handsome, with a mysterious background working for the C.I.A. She fell so hard for M. Brooks Welles that she wrote him a check for almost three hundred thousand dollars, hoping for a big return on her investment. What she got back was zippo, nada, goose egg and her ideal man disappears. He’s slippery and a consummate liar. Qualities that Spenser truly hates.

Characters that we fans truly love are back. Hawk, Susan Silverman, Pearl (the Dog) and Henry Cimoli at the Harbor Health Club. Robert Parker lives on through his stories and the wonderful writers who
keeps them alive.

Did you miss my Interview with Ace Adkins?

Little White Lies Released May 2nd. Order now!
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MY BLOGS feature INTERVIEWS with best-selling AUTHORS! Did you miss the past few months? February’s author was Sheryl Steines.
Johan Thompson (South African author) will join us in April. May’s author will be Cheryl Hollon and in June: Mehreen Ahmed
Check out more Motivational Moments…for Writers!

To receive my posts sign up for my On the home page, enter your email address. Thanks!

‘My momma always said, ‘Life is Like a Box of Chocolates’….or words (part 8)

An argument was presented to me recently in the film Words and Pictures (movie, 2013 with Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche)

As the students looked up a word, on their electronic devices, the English, Honors teacher presented the theory that if the students relied on their device of choice they would see only the word that was assigned. If they used the (paper) dictionary, and while thumbing through the pages to find the word, they would be exposed to other words and mostly likely one or two would reach out and grab them.

I put it to the test. EQUIDISTANT Definition: equally distant <a location equidistant from two major cities>Origin of EQUIDISTANT
Middle French or Late Latin; Middle French, from Late Latin aequidistant.First Known Use: 1556

Nostalgia: A Greek word meaning to Grieve, to Ache
Modern Dictionary: a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period or irrecoverable condition. And:

Meritocracy: A system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement

BUT then one can make a strong argument for ‘Pictures tell a thousand words’ too. Pictures almost always illicit some sort of reaction from us.

Can you look at any of these photos and say that you feel nothing?

The movie Words and Pictures is worth your time!

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New Poetry…Let’s Go Out West

The Circle Heart brand on the wet rump
rippled as the horse shivered with exhaustion
the sun lost its battle with night and
dropped behind the far peak

Chaparejos, worn thin and soft fit his legs
like they had grown there

dusty spurs jangled as he trotted into the sleepy town
a saddle that had seen a thousand miles
creaked and complained as he stepped down
the crown of his hat stained with sweat
from the hard ride

Reins dangled in the dirt
the horse hung his head, relieved
to not be moving

A drink or two to wash the Santa Fe Trail dust
from the cowboy’s throat
he stepped up onto the boardwalk,
turned and gazed at the town
the mountains beyond the color of old blood
as the sun lost its glory

He pulled a cigarillo out, with one smooth
movement wiped a match on his pants,
the tiny flame ignited
he puffed and blew smoke into the evening air
watched the town close up for the night
Across the street a cur scurried around a corner
a merchant keyed his shop closed and
lit the gas lantern beside his door

The work had been good at the Circle Heart ranch,
the grub even better
But the trail was his siren, always calling him,
luring him over the next hill,
down the next wash,
up the next canyon

sleeping next to a small camp fire,
staring at a billion stars
wondering if someone, something out there
was staring back

He wanted to settle but he hadn’t found
the right place
the right woman
the right time

Flicking the smoke into the street, he turned
and sauntered into the saloon,
honky-tonk piano played
the doors behind him whispered back and forth

The patrons saw another dusty, tired cowpoke,
looking for a few hours of pleasure
some music, some whiskey, and if he could afford it
the soft body of a woman

The cowboy saw weak town folk,
forever saddled to their days
the bit in their mouths dictating their lives
wary of any stranger, their gaze shied away

Set ‘em up and keep ‘em comin’, the cowboy barked
Show me your coin, the barkeep growled

His days were numbered,
the boys from the Circle Heart ranch
would find him and the horse
They would take their horse and probably string
him up to the nearest tree.

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A Review: “Stark reality saturates your little bit of ink.” from a fellow poet

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Interview with South African author, Johan Thompson (part 3)

Q. What makes a writer great?

JT. O boy… I’ll ask one when I see one, but will try and answer the question. It must be your passion in life as it will reflect in your writing.

Persistent writing, in order to create your unique writing style. The talent to envision and write that special story. When other writers read it and say, “Why the hell didn’t I think of that?” My exact words when reading George R. R. Martin’s work. Like Gary Player once said, “The harder you work, the luckier you get.”

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

JT. In the beginning I feel like a sculptor, standing in front of a big rock, visualizing an image. I don’t know exactly how the sculpture will look but I have a rough idea. Then, I start chipping away, starting at the feet, laying the foundation. The most exciting time for me is that first few pages, the opening scene. I set the bar as high as possible in order for the momentum/story to carry me to the end. The moment I get bored writing, I know the reader will also get bored. So I write what I love, and I think with any writer it reflects in his work. It keeps the story alive, and it also helps with your rhythm and routine. It’s not that hard then to get your ass in the chair and start with the next chapter. I’m not one of those writers that pushes themselves to write a certain number of words each day. I work on a scene, maybe for two or three days until I’m satisfied.

It could be 500 words or 2000 words a day. For me creativity can’t be rushed. As my story unfolds, I make notes on discrepancies, plot twists I need to change in the beginning of the story etc. After I’m done with the first draft, I start from scratch, applying my notes and fix grammar mistakes. ONLY THEN do I give it to an editor friend to read and give feedback on. I never let anyone see it until I’m done with the story. Another rewrite follows. After that the sculpture is still far from done though. Next it’s the publishers turn: Usually three edits – continuity, content and grammar. Douglas Owen from DA Owen Publications is a brilliant editor and picks up on things that I’ve never thought about. So taking a book from “no book” to “finished book” takes bloody hard work, but when you hold that “finished book” in your hands… it’s all worth it.

Q. How has your life experiences influenced your writing?

JT. When writing an emotional scene, I draw from my own experiences. You have to in order to create an authentic character. With regards to storyline and plot twists, not much… my life, luckily, is not that chaotic.

Q. Have you or do you want to write in another genre`?

JT. I will definitely give it a go, but as soon as I get bored writing it, I will drop it. The reader will realize, because it will reflect in my writing.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know?

JT. I’m not going to go away, so they might as well start reading my books. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Did you miss Part I of this Interview?
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