Archive
Emerging Writers Guest Post #35 – Evan Sutter – reflections on life’s difficulties
Evan Sutter always liked to write, ever since he created and wrote a small sports magazine in primary school.
He reconnected with writing when on the road travelling and keeping a history of places and experiences, this then transformed into ‘insipid magazine’ an online pop culture publication and later ‘journalistic thieves’.
He would love nothing more than to create a platform to foster ideas and debate and share them with the public. Creating and writing new ideas via ‘journalistic thieves’ and ‘scribbles on the wall’ are some ways he is trying to fulfill his passion for writing.
Scribbles on the Wall (Non- Fiction)
Scribbles on the Wall is a reflection on life through experiences, observations, mistakes, regrets and successes, provoking debate, fostering ideas and raising opinion on everyday happenings; from alcohol and drugs to sex and religion, health, friendship, travel, community, lifestyle, work, study and everything in between.
Our society is becoming more and more superficial and materialistic with every new ad campaign that storms into the younger generation’s faces. Magazine covers are littered with thin, perfect bronzed models; every ad targets our insecurities and persuades us to believe that without the latest trend we cannot be ‘cool’ or ‘popular’. Instead of creating people of unique substance and style we encourage conformity.
In a world of cutting edge innovations and technological breakthroughs we still suffer from chronic unhappiness, a result of a desire for fast, short term fixes. Simple lives and simple pursuits replaced with fast cars, big houses and over-complications.
Evan Sutter’s latest work give a candid view of an obtainable life path in given with observed morals and teachings from tantric Zen to the anecdotes and parables from people of peace and serves as a positive guide to reflect and better your subconscious.
Issues and questions I had wrestled with throughout the course of my life where continually popping up in the lives of my younger family and friends; I never intended it to come to light in the form of a book, but merely some thoughts for reflection which could potentially foster ideas, raise opinion and provoke debate. It was then that this book began to gather some strength, when my three older brothers, much more experienced and wiser then I could ever wish to be, provided insights and observations based on their contrasting experiences.
Divorce rates are soaring, the developed world is facing monumental new health challenges, more people are consuming alcohol at younger ages, youth violence is on the rise and more people are being treated for depression than ever before; we felt an obligation of sorts, without adding to the already over -abundance of preaching’s and teachings, but rather through simple opinions and ideals from the wisdoms of experience and observation, open for interpretation whichever way you feel fit.
I felt there was a need for something fresh and real that could resonate with a younger audience. I felt other books whilst touching similar topics offered a very generic viewpoint and a somewhat soft approach to the very serious issues prevalent today. Most importantly I thought they lacked great relevance given they were mainly written by older men and women not immersed in these everyday events, therefore lacking emotion, substance and reality.
Everything in ‘Scribbles on the Wall’ is related to real life events and experiences with extensive examples and anecdotes to further any view; despite how controversial or indifferent they may first appear.
Evan’s blog: http://evansutter.blogspot.com.au/
And on Amazon: Scribbles on the Wall
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Thanks Evan. Writing is, for me, a real antidote to the consumer society. By creating instead of consuming we tap into our deepest selves and find pride in a job well done. Instead of always wanting more, we learn to stop and reflect. I wish you well with your writing and everything you do.
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
Emerging Writers Guest Post #34 – Eric Johnson – A Look into Speculative/What if Fiction
Eric Johnson is a speculative fiction author working on the A Life in After World series.
You can follow his blog at www.ALifeinAfterWorld.com, his Facebook at Facebook.com\ALifeinAfterWorld, and Twitter @ALifeAfterWorld.
What if?
Look at the world around you. Now look at it and ask yourself, “What if?” You will start to know what it is like to be a speculative fiction writer.
“What if I came to downtown after two thousand years, what would it look like?”
“What if people had to live in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico on an oil rig for years?”
“What if you could transfer your mind from an old body to a new one?”
Every day when I am working, watching the news, or just driving from one place to another I am constantly asking myself, “What if?”
As soon as I ask these questions a multitude of answers come forth. Mostly they are just conjecture that I can dismiss with a swift application of logic, but some turn into interesting ideas which lead to story ideas and eventually they evolve into a book.
You can do it on anything past, present, or future and a whole world of possibilities opens up to you.
My “What if?” is this: What if all electronic technology failed for thousands of years and humanity had to survive without medical, farming, transportation, or any technology reliant on electronics? My “What if?” answer to this is that it caused humans to evolve into many subspecies each with its own distinct advantage for survival.
Look around, ask yourself, “What if?”, think about it, write about it, and tell your story.
You can follow Eric’s blog at www.ALifeinAfterWorld.com, his Facebook page at Facebook.com\ALifeinAfterWorld, and Twitter @ALifeAfterWorld.
To buy: A Life in After World: Roe
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Thanks Eric. What if is a great question. I wish you well with your journey.
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
Emerging Writers Guest Post #33 – Frank Daly – Writing Titles
Frank Daley has spent many years in the communications business in Canada in radio, TV, journalism, and theater as a writer, host, commentator, actor, director, and producer. He has an MA from Northwestern University in Chicago in Theatre and did post-graduate work in film and psychology at the University of Milan, Italy. He’s taught drama, psychology, communications and writing at universities and colleges in Canada and the U.S.
Now he’s starting a new business on personal development focusing on self knowledge. www.selfknowledgecollege.com. His blog is THE DALEY POST. www.thedaleypost.com.
He’s also editing the final draft of an historical novel called The Barricade (or…?).
His topic here in this guest post is “writing titles.”
Writing titles is a combination of writing, editing, marketing and magic.
A title has to attract attention fast on a bookstore shelf and on a website. Scale, clarity impact and, often, familiarity, count.
The title can arrest, engage, startle, intrigue, or create curiosity. It can make you laugh, reflect, or think. It can indicate a genre, style, historical period, location, a character in some kind of trouble or several of those simultaneously.
I’m thrashing out those factors while editing the final raft of a historical novel, Barricade: The Battle of the Long Sault. Set in Montreal in 1660, it’s the story of a surprise, week-long battle on the Ottawa river when 17 French soldiers and forty Huron and Algonquin allies, under the command of Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, were attacked by 700 Iroquois en route to destroy Montreal and the French fur trade.
It’s an “Eastern/western,” dealing not with the old west but with the wars between the French explorers and the native tribes in what is now Quebec and Ontario. Think Canadian Alamo or Horatio at the Bridge.
The working title refers to the meager redoubt the French occupied to fend off the attackers coming down the Long Sault rapids in war canoes. The French had gone up-river and were met by a massive attack.
Title problem: Barricade (The Barricade?) is generic. No magic.
Barricade: The Battle of the Long Sault, could create either curiosity or irritation. The French word “sault” (for rapids) is archaic—although intriguing. The city of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario obviously likes it!
But how does a non-French speaker pronounce “sault?’ (Salt? Soult? Sawult?) You could easily imagine people just saying to heck with it.
(It’s pronounced “soo,” by the way).
WHAT ABOUT A SUB-TITLE?
All Non-Fiction books have subtitles—the promise that fulfills the title statement. You probably don’t want that in fiction, yet there are novels with sub-titles. (Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, the Modern Prometheus and many others).
The Barricade: Dollard Des Ormeaux and the Battle of the Long Rapids? Quebec has a provincial holiday named after him but non-Quebecers never heard of him. No name recognition there. How about…
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The Barricade: The Battle of the Long Rapids?
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The Battle of the Long Rapids? (Weak?)
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Barricade: The battle that saved Montreal. Unambiguous, but it sounds like a non-fiction account and also foretells the ending.
Grrrr!
Whatever you decide, the publisher will change it.
On the other hand (OTOH–there are a lot of “on the other hands” in writing titles), I’ll publish it as an Ebook for the usual reasons. Moreover, westerns are out of favor and I’m unknown.
Maybe I should consider titles such as Night of the Living Dead.
Oh, that’s a movie title. OTOH, you can’t copyright a title.
How about Week of the Living Dead? (The battle lasted a week).
“Is a puzzlement!” (King of Siam in The King and I. Good title!)
Suggestions welcome!
Frank Daley’s blog is The Daley Post (http://www.thedaleypost.com).
His non-fiction published book on Self-Knowledge is Who Are You and What are You Doing Here? The way to know yourself and get what you want.
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Thanks Frank. Titles are hugely important. It took me about five years to come up with The Istanbul Puzzle. I had many working titles and it wasn’t until I heard someone talking about readers liking puzzles that the title came to me. I hope you get some interesting suggestions. Keep working on it. My suggestions is – The Long Sault.
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
The Secrets of Manhattan #1 Manhattanhenge
This post is part of a series I will be writing in the run up to the launch of The Manhattan Puzzle on October 10th, 2013. They will describe some of the most interesting things I have discovered about Manhattan during my research.
The Manhattan Puzzle is available for pre-order in many countries here.
In 1811 a street plan was adopted for the island of Manhattan that allowed the sun to set directly on the line of the streets twice a year. The cross-street grid was approved by the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811 to be offset from true east-west by 29 degrees to allow this to happen.
The effect is spectacular. It has also been described as unique, because the tall buildings of Manhattan create a canyon effect heightened by the un-interrupted views across the Hudson River towards New Jersey.
For 2013 the effect will occur on May 28th and July 13th. On those days the setting Sun will align with Manhattan’s street grid creating a sunset glow directly down each cross street.
John Randel Jr. (1787–1865) was the surveyor who created Manhattan’s grid over what was an undeveloped, hilly island. Randel was a believer in the Enlightenment, new theories, which gave math and science a new role in human affairs.
Randell was most probably a Freemason too, as they were holders of many high offices in the US during the early years after independence.
Manhattan’s street grid is at its most beautiful when the streets align directly with the setting sun. Whether future historians interpret this to mean New Yorker’s worship the sun is another matter entirely.
Emerging Writers Guest Post #32 – James N. Roses – Dark thoughts that light up a page
Dark thoughts light up the page. I will let James tell you his shade:
I have spent too many years of my life abusing alcohol and recreational drugs, but thankfully, a few years ago I sobered up completely in preparation for the arrival of my son.
I love the creation of stories, and although I spend days and weeks and months working on a plot, it’s the emotions of my characters that I really enjoy delving into. My first published novel, ‘Get Clean’, really has my heart and soul poured into it. Although I feel a bit naked by putting a story out there that contains so much of my life, I’m happy with the book, and a little proud of my first writing achievement.
Now also available is ‘Son of a Serial Killer’. This story was born in my mind when I was going through a difficult phase in my life. I felt let down by the person closest to me, and I was angry and upset. What better way to expel those emotions than to throw them into a book?
You can follow me on twitter, with updates on upcoming releases and also a little humour based on current affairs and so forth… @JamsNRoses
Below is my post on dark thoughts.
The dark thoughts that can run through the mind of the broken-hearted, the deceived and the lonely need a way out. To keep these emotions bottled up inside won’t do any good, especially to a sentimental person, any psychologist would tell you that.
Some people under these pressures take to running in the streets, until they’re physically drained and tired enough to sleep off their worries until another day. Others just want to fight, to smash things up and break them into a thousand pieces, showing everyone who doesn’t seem to give a
damn that there’s a lost soul that needs saving.
I’ve wanted to lash out, too, but didn’t have the balls to hurt anyone. And I wasn’t crazy enough, no matter how upset I’ve been, to consider self-harming as a viable option. I can’t really run due to myshin splints, so what to do? How to get these raw and powerful emotions out of my system?
I put every single emotion I went through in that depressing period of my life down onto paper, scribbling away as the tears fell from my cheeks and distorted the words that I’d just written.
‘Son of a Serial Killer’ isn’t about my life, per se, but it captures all the pain, all the anger, and eventually all the relief that I felt during and after my darkest of days.
A common tip given to writers is to write about what you know, and if you’ve felt the most powerful of emotions, like heartache or love, joy or pain, then these are the vital ingredients that a book needs to have that ‘realism’ that people often talk about.
I guess I would relate it to character actors, who lead the life of the character they are playing as closely as possible, to live and breath and feel the way their fictional persona would, thus giving the type of performance that would leave the viewer wondering if they really were who the portrayed
themselves to be, that maybe they’d have trouble crossing back to reality.
I am not a trained actor, but I do write from the heart, as well as those dark little corners in the back of the mind. So the end result is the same; a believable and interesting story that runs on the raw emotions of its characters.
You can buy ‘Son of a Serial Killer’ on the following links…
Amazon US – http://amzn.to/WNHvLq
Amazon UK – http://amzn.to/10ALbof
Jams N. Roses blog - http://jamsnroses.wordpress.com/
Follow Jams N. roses on twitter – @jamsnroses
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Thanks James. I know what it’s like to feel those dark thought and I admire anyone who makes it through to the other side. I have been through loneliness and heartache and I know how they can tear you apart. I wish you well on your journey. Writing helped me. Creativity is a pure antidote for many ills.
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
Emerging Writers Guest Post #31 – P.J. Roscoe – Is writing a type of schizophrenia?
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My name is P.J Roscoe. I have been writing since I could hold a pencil, a cliche I know, but it’s true. I love telling stories that will bring joy to those who read them. Using my imagination: a place with a castle - Echoes, Time team – Freya’s Child, the river – Where Rivers meet, Apples –Clare and the Apple tree fairy, my daughters hatred of brushing her hair – The Magic comb and so on…
I am the author of two novels ‘Echoes’ and Freya’s Child’. Both are supernatural/historical thrillers. Both have characters in them which once published, I mourn.
When the story is ended, the characters have played their part, the final page is turned and the reader (hopefully) sighs, content, yet a little sad that the adventure is over and then (hopefully) begins searching for another book (hopefully) of the same author…and the journey begins all over again.
I, the writer dance the same dance. Yet for me, once the page is turned, the back cover faces me, taunting as I realise, it’s all over. The characters, so real, so life-like- in my head, have gone, walked away, to entertain the world. They are no longer only mine and mine alone, they are free to become whatever the reader dictates. Where I will conjure one image, theirs may be slightly different. Would I recognise their version? I wonder?
I have had long conversations with my character’s, getting to know them, their every last detail. I hear their voices as they come alive on my pages. I know what works for them and what they would never say.
I know each person’s behaviour, their traits, their bad habits and their deepest, hidden desires. For am I not their Mother, their friend, their creator, their destruction (if the plot demands they leave).
I mourn them. Each one. I grieve for my babies and find it difficult to write for a while as I allow the grief to take hold…I cry, I yearn for them and I wish for the pages to be empty once more and to feel the excitement of the beginning, like a new lover – and then I am free to write again. To begin the process of building new relationships, tantalizing, frightening and following where they might lead…because they are real…aren’t they?
Echoes on Amazon – Paperback or ebook
Freya’s Child on Amazon – Paperback or ebook
P.J. Roscoe on Goodreads
On Twitter
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Thanks P.J.. I know what it’s like to feel your story slipping away after you finish it. For me it’s such an enveloping thing, writing, I feel as if something has been taken from me when I finish a novel, as I have recently done. But here’s one thing to cheer you up! You can always go back and edit it! Just one more time!
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
Emerging Writers Guest Post #30 – Charles Yallowitz – how you can support self-published authors
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My name is Charles and I’m the self-published author behind Legends of Windemere. I recently made a post on my blog about being frustrated that many of my friend and family members have refused to support my decision to be an author.
Some have even taken to trying to talk me out of it, which has created a horrible mix of disappointment, frustration, and a little rage. Now, I’ve learned that this is very common with self-published authors and independent authors of all mediums. Mr. O’Bryan has been nice enough to offer me a chance to write a guest blog and talk about what a person can do to support an artist. I will be focusing on author specifically, but the suggestions can be used for other artists.
Charles’ Blog: Legends of Windemere
Available on Amazon – ebook & paperback and Look Inside too!
Truthfully, it really isn’t as complicated as one would think. Big publishing companies have money and dedicated readers to put behind their authors. A self-published author doesn’t have this and has to put a lot more elbow grease into promotion.
They don’t have an agent or PR team to leave the dirty work to. The self-published author takes on all these roles. The idea of the author at a table selling homemade copies of his or her book is only the beginning of the marketing. The rest is done by supportive people who create the elusive word-of-mouth campaign, which is relatively easy to start up.
As a reader, friend, or family member, you really only have to tell people about the artist. Re-blogging, re-tweeting, sharing, and every other synonym for passing on information on social media are essential. You have a friend who writes romance, but you like horror? It doesn’t really matter because you have over 300 Facebook friends and some of them might be romance readers.
People seem to forget that the majority of on-line friends are only slightly the level of stranger because we barely know them. So, passing on a friend’s post about their new book can go a long way.
If you share and it doesn’t get any sales for your artistic friend, you’ve done something even more important. You’ve told that friend that he or she is not alone.
They have people who want them to succeed, which is truly more precious to an artist than sales. That foundation of support is what will keep an artist going through bad sales, horrible reviews, and artistic blocks. So, show your support and do a simple share for your artist friends. I’m sure you’ll get a thank you and a smile out of it.
Again, I would like to thank Mr. O’Bryan for giving me this opportunity.
Charles Blog: Legends of Windemere
Available on Amazon – ebook & paperback and Look Inside too!
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Thanks Charles. I am 100% behind you and all writers who want to tell people what they have written. I wish you well with your writing and everything. This is not an easy road, but the friends we make on the way make it worthwhile.
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
Emerging Writers Guest Post #29 – Tania Elizabeth – from physical & emotional abuse to writing & helping others
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Tania Elizabeth is a single mum of three beautiful children from the shores of Australia. She is also the author of the newly released trilogy, The Tier of Eternal Grace. Book One, The Moon Clearing, was revealed to the world in February of this year. Book Two The Mirrors Shadow will be released in late September, and Book Three will be launched in the early part of 2014.
The Tier of Eternal Grace is a captivating fantasy of magic and passion, wound into the truths of reality that will not only enchant readers with its depiction of the faerie realm, and the exploits of the faeries themselves, but will also take the reader on a journey of self-discovery along with the characters themselves. Book One of the series The Moon Clearing is an immersive tale of mysticism and adventure, of spiritual and sensual intent.
Alongside her passions of writing and her three angels, she is also an advocate for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which supports terminally ill children and their families.
Tania’s journey has been one of trials and tribulations, of love and of passions; and the dissolution of it; heartache, sorrows, smiles and laughter.
Tania was born in a little mining town, though spent most of her childhood in Cairns by the Great Barrier Reef. Many of her weekends were spent in the countryside and the Rainforests, loosing herself in her imagination.
Take it away, Tania.
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Unfavorably, at the age of 11, I had already allowed my ego to overwhelm, struggling with bulimia for several years. This is also when I began to write poetry and short stories, however, on almost a daily basis. It became my catharsis. Unfortunately, I also suffered other physical and emotional abuse on different levels. Though through my struggles, I found my true self.
And this is where The Tier of Eternal Grace began to mold itself into something more than just a dream. Just after my 30th birthday, I felt a need for a shift. To begin opening myself back up to my higher self and that of the divine. I had tried on several occasions throughout the years, though unfortunately had always been sabotaged by my ego ways once more. This particular year however, I was not going to allow defeat. I then came to say for the first time in my existence, “I LOVE ME!” Thus The Tier of Eternal Grace, of which I had envisioned for many years, began its path to the eyes of the world.
I honestly believe that it was not until I had begun to come into my own true self that I was in the right place to write such a profound and beautiful piece.
Through the words of Tatiana, my main character, my growth continued as further peace within was found. Alongside God and thy words, I have healed within. That is not to say that I do not have my moments of ego minds elapse, though I have now learnt to understand what it is to acknowledge when this appears and to then surrender it’s wrath back to the universe.
Love, Blessings and Faerie Kisses, Tania Elizabeth xo
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Help us to raise funds for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which supports terminally ill children and their families.
There are two ways in which people can help.
Host, review or interview myself/my book via a blog post, amazon, newspaper, radio, TV within a 21day window frame, between the dates of Friday 12th of April and Friday the 3rd of May. For every appearance, I will be donating $1 to the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
If you yourself could help, I would be so grateful. If you can connect me with anyone else who would be happy to interview, do a short post or review on myself/my book, I would be ever so grateful more.
You may also donate direct via this link below.
http://starlightday2013bb.gofundraise.com.au/page/ElizabethT
And follow our progress on the Starlight Author’s Aid Facebook Page.
http://www.facebook.com/StarlightAuthorsAid
You may also contact me via email
taniaelizabeth11@gmail.com
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Thanks Tania. I know that life’s journey can be harder than we expect. I know from such heartache that creativity can be found. I know it helps to fill the void. I wish you well on your journey and with the Starlight project.
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
Emerging Writers Guest Post #28 – From practicing law to writing romance
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This post is by Regan Walker, who writes historical romance. Take it away Regan.
I am an avid reader and reviewer. My prior work as a lawyer serving at high levels of government gave me a sense for the demands of “the Crown.” Hence, the Agents of the Crown trilogy naturally came into being as three hunky heroes take on some difficult tasks for the Prince Regent and fall in love with some worthy heroines.
Set in London and Paris in 1816, RACING WITH THE WIND is the first in the Agents of the Crown trilogy. The next up is AGAINST THE WIND (Sir Martin Powell’s story) and takes place in the Midlands of England in 1817. It will be released in March 2013. SEE THE TRAILER HERE: http://www.reganwalkerauthor.com/novels.html.
Then, comes WIND RAVEN (Nick’s story), set on a schooner and in the Caribbean, also in 1817.
I hope you like them all!
Connect with me!
I want you to experience adventure as well as love.
Regan’s blog: http://reganromancereview.blogspot.com
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Click to Look Inside
I wrote stories as a child. I bet some of you did, too. One I recall was of a brave young girl titled “A 20th Century Pollyanna.” But the idea of becoming a writer as a profession never occurred to me, notwithstanding the results of tests in high school that suggested otherwise. In those days, schools did not encourage such pursuits.
By the time I got to college (majoring in science), and considered graduate school, it was either going to be a PhD in science (so I could teach, of course) or a law degree (urged by some of my professors who’d heard me arguing). So I chose the latter. My reasoning was that I’d rather be a hammer than a nail, and in our society and lawyers are hammers. Decades of that occupation led to insomnia and very little of interest to share at cocktail parties (much of which I did know that was interesting I could not share).
In the economic downturn of 2009, which has persisted to this day and which led to a certain amount of unwanted free time on my part, I turned to my life long love of reading.
Only this time I did not read for intellectual pursuit; I read for pleasure. I don’t recall when I stumbled across the romance genre. I always thought, as may some of you, that it was mostly “dime novels.” I was wrong. The historical romance novels I began to read were thrilling adventures into the deep past of Scotland, England and Europe.
I couldn’t get enough of them. I recall the first author I read who wrote Scottish historicals, Kathleen Givens. Her stories like On a Highland Shore had me enthralled. It was during this period I discovered that over 50% of fiction sold in America is “romance.” Yes, that’s right. And why? I believe it is at least in part due not just to a craving for an absorbing story, but for the happy ending you are assured.
This world is full of dismal outcomes and Hollywood is only too happy to deliver a depressing movie for our “entertainment.” But romance novels, the seriously researched and well written ones, provide great entertainment and a good feeling when the book is done. People actually find both adventure and love!
So, duly armed with this new knowledge, I set out to write one. I love research so that part was fun. I decided to focus on France and England in the early 19th century—to romance readers, the Regency period, when George, Prince Regent ruled England (well, he was at least the monarch). My first novel, Racing With The Wind, tells of a young noblewoman who goes against the grain of the society into which she was born.
In the language of the Regency, Lady Mary Campbell is a bluestocking hoyden. She rides her black stallion Midnight astride, and she follows her statesman uncle to Paris and the court of King Louis XVIII where adventure and intrigue await. Her counterpart is a British marquess who masquerades for the Crown as the Nighthawk, a former thief of Napoleon’s secrets. It’s the first in my Agents of the Crown trilogy.
The second, Against the Wind, was just published, and tells the story of Sir Martin Powell, an agent for the Crown returning from years spying in France who meets Katherine, Lady Egerton in—of all places—a fancy bordello. Yes, I quite like that one.
I love the new world of which I am now a part. The world of ideas and wonderful stories. Creating new scenes every day and books for readers to enjoy makes me smile. My friends are happy I’m no longer such a serious person and my family is amused that the heavyweight lawyer is now writing romance. Read some and you just might discover why I love them!
You can contact me via my website http://www.reganwalkerauthor.com
or my blog, Regan’s Romance Reviews, http://reganromancereview.blogspot.com.
And you can find my books on Amazon here:
US Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Against-Wind-Agents-Crown-ebook/dp/B00BXIJ6QM
UK Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Against-Wind-Agents-Crown-ebook/dp/B00BXIJ6QM
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Thanks Regan. I include a little romance in my novels and I admire anyone who can write this genre well. I also understand the journey from the serious business world to trying to make a living as a writer. I wish you well. It is not an easy road.
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
Emerging Writers Guest Post #27 – A professor of American Literature writes Literary Romance+
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College Professor Shawn StJean treasures the novels and dramas of decades and even centuries past, and wondered if it wouldn’t be possible to import those techniques to a contemporary, long narrative.
An enthusiastic student of overt allegory, willing suspension of disbelief, extensive allusion, symbolism, and foreshadowing, among a host of old-fashioned devices, he vowed to give it his best attempt in CLOTHO’S LOOM: A Novel of Literary Romance and Realism.
The novel aspires to reproduce the experience, in modern form, of reading the kind of hybrid Romance/Realist narrative pioneered in America by Hawthorne and Melville, and modeled after ancient Greek epic.
“It’s not exactly what folks who prowl the new-release shelves of a 21st Century bookstore are used to finding,” claims StJean. ”No vampires or werewolves: just flawed human beings, and equal stage time for male and female protagonists. I risked horrific commercial failure, I suppose, but the project always has been a great source of personal satisfaction to me.”
For more information about CLOTHO’S LOOM: A Novel of Literary Romance and Realism, please visit: http://clothosloom.wordpress.com/
Here is Shawn’s post:
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Genre Fiction Rules: Or, Why’s Stephen Crane Lurking in Stephen King’s Shadow?
The question of what makes some works “literary,” others genre or commercial, is an old one–none knew this better than Louisa May Alcott, revered today for Little Women, but who pseudonymously produced dozens of short stories which today’s students eschew as “hack writing.” For the indigent family without a father present to earn their daily bread, the short answer was, tales that made money were genre!
Cannot literary works reach as wide an audience as genre works?–exceptions exist, but think about why. Genre creations–mystery, horror, romance, western, military, sci-fi–often follow recognizable conventions so established, they can be spotted by cover art in cavernous bookstores, at fifty yards! And when a Cormac McCarthy makes a breakout, he’s “branded”– publishers ensure this–so that, come next year, potential book buyers are as comfortable with his name as with the next episode of David Letterman–knowing what to expect.
Literary Fiction is not comforting–simple definition. It’s hard going, and takes readers beyond daily vocabularies, plot formulas that taste familiar, and objective facts and ethical truths they’re sure of. Simply put, any self-assured “I got this,” is absent. The literary greats we studied in school were not content to–or so poor as to have to–churn out more, average content.
Sometimes–as with Shakespeare and Marlowe–rivalry, or pride, pushed them. Ben Franklin’s Autobiography went far beyond the established conventions of the Enlightenment, in that he endorsed the values of emotion and intuition over logic and reason, heralding the Romantic age in America.
Not that genre authors have it easy; they often do much research, into history, or on location, perhaps. But is it any mystery why literary fiction (unbranded) doesn’t sell particularly well in the U.S.?
Take the challenge yourself: Stephen Crane’s short story, “The Open Boat,” begins “None of them knew the color of the sky.” Brilliant sentence, but requiring a return to it, following the conclusion, to realize that. Crane’s mode is naturalism, and probably the first tenet thereof is that people behave animalistically. And what do we know about the eyesight of many animals?
So figurative meaning lurks beneath the literal fact that the four characters in the tiny lifeboat are so busy keeping it from swamping, they haven’t a moment to look up. Beyond that, tertiary resonances suggest themselves, as that famous line from Ovid, “All other creatures look down; only man turns his face toward Heaven.” A similar sentiment exists in God’s admonishment to Cain, in Genesis. The real trick for the literary fictionalist is that she must work in an idiom the reader can, upon application of reasonable training and effort, share–no sense publishing your paranoic or drug-addled delusions, no matter how fascinating to a clinician.
Not to oversimplify, but in genre fiction, we’re often told the answer: the creature in the sewers was a giant alligator, the killer turned out to be Mr. Green, the treasure wasn’t worth the cost. So while it might be disturbing in its sordid details, genre fiction is ultimately secure: There’s one Truth. Literary fiction offers no such stability; rather, multiple ambiguities.
I stumbled into this commercial pitfall myself. As a professor of American Literature for twenty years, I wanted a novel stretching literary devices to their limits: foreshadowing, irony, symbolism, manipulated POV. These, in addition to proper plot structure, tone, character development, etc., that all fictionalists must observe. My very title, Clotho’s Loom, alludes to ancient Greek mythology, and potentially alienates for that reason. Even the basic conflict (sniper reactivated by U.S. military after twenty years) is morally debatable–the protagonist, as a different person at 39 years old than at 19–legitimately doesn’t know the right thing to do. Will Wyrd’s been judged “spineless” by one reader, and although that’s hyperbolic, I didn’t create him to be sympathetic. The same has been claimed of Hamlet, or any number of Joyce’s characters.
One solution is for the best genre writers to hold their established audiences–and themselves – to an edifying standard, by hybridizing their work. I honestly believe, if we’re to keep literacy and critical thinking alive in our culture, then artists (those privileged enough to create art for a living,) owe us that.
For more information about CLOTHO’S LOOM: A Novel of Literary Romance and Realism, please visit: http://clothosloom.wordpress.com/
CLOTHO’S LOOM is available on Amazon - in ebook and paperback
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Thanks Shawn. I write using allegory, willing suspension of disbelief, extensive allusion, symbolism, and foreshadowing too, but I also use genre devices of pace and plot and character. I think the best writers do all that well. But for me the shiny literary baubles of well spun sentences are not enough. I want to be embraced by majestic themes too.
I wish you well with Clothos Loom. Thanks foo taking part.
This guest post is part of a series where I will be showcasing emerging and established writers on this blog.
You can help by visiting their sites, buying their books, sharing this post on Twitter and Facebook and coming back for the next post. You can also follow this site (click the button above right), to be notified by email on who is next in a few days time.
And if you are a writer and want to be featured send me an email lob@yourasms.com and I will send you the submission guidelines.
And please support this site and the promotion of writers by buying: The Istanbul Puzzle & The Jerusalem Puzzle.
