This gallery contains 7 photos.
Don Massenzio Welcome to the 2018 author interview series. Author interviews will be posted every Friday throughout the year. I am honored to continue this series with Ken La Salle, a California author, philosopher and monologist. For those of you … Continue reading
Staci Troilo is here today to introduce her new series to everyone. Staci is a dear friend, a great colleague, and one hell of a writer. You guys make her feel welcome.
***
Thanks for inviting me here today, Craig. I appreciate having a chance to talk to your readers about my new novel. Hi, everybody!
Expanded Excerpt:
“What the hell are you playing at?”
“Me?” She recoiled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean these games. Hot then cold then hot again. Mad at me one minute, interested the next. You kept me up all night, and I want to know why.”
She jumped to her feet. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about kissing then running. I’m talking about the fake-sleep seduction routine. I thought it might be to avoid talking to me, but I wasn’t asking you questions last night. So tell me…” He stalked toward her…
View original post 628 more words
Hi, Story Reading Ape readers! *Waves* *Blushes* *Smacks Head* Can I start over?
As you can tell, I’m a bit socially awkward. I’d call myself an introvert, but everyone who meets me and my big mouth in person has a conniption fit when I say that. I’ve taken to carrying articles about social introverts with me just to prove them wrong.
Where was I? Oh yeah, an introduction into Dena the person behind D.E. Haggerty. I was born and raised in the state of Wisconsin in the US but think I’m a European. I begged and begged and finally convinced my parents to send me to Germany for my senior year of high school. That experience caused me to develop a wicked case of wanderlust that I hope will never be cured. In addition to living in Germany, I’ve lived in the Netherlands and Turkey. Of course, I’ve lived in…
View original post 565 more words
Blade
Next Thursday will start the War of Nytefall character profiles in order to introduce the 13 main characters. You’ll get to learn about their origins, personality, and a little bit about their roles without getting into spoilers. I don’t have pictures for the characters though, so I’ll be using whatever vampire pics I can find that I think can work. At least I’m going to try.
Some characters will have more meat to them than others because this isn’t an equal-footing ensemble cast like with the champions. While I say there are 13 main characters, many are supporting cast that will have various levels of evolution. I won’t be doing one book to highlight each one since there are only 8 volumes this time. Most events will focus on Clyde and Mab, which will become fairly evident when the profiles start. That and Mab was in The Mercenary Prince to give a little preliminary insight into the world of the Dawn Fangs. I should mention again that War of Nytefall takes place years before Legends of Windemere.
So, what is the purpose of this post? Well, I was going to explain the Dawn Fangs, but I’ve done that twice. Nothing else I can say about it without revealing the entire first book of what will be a fun series. I’m actually just going to open the floor to questions. Is there anything you want to know about the Dawn Fangs and characters? What do you look for in a vampire story if you enjoy them at all?
Hey there all you conquistadores and knights in shining armor. Today is Thursday, and you know what that means. It’s time for Lisa Burton Radio. I’m your host, Lisa the robot girl, bringing you another fabulous interview with one of the characters you love from your favorite books. My guest today is Sir Chocolate. “Welcome to the show, um, Sir.”
“Thank you, Lisa, I am delighted to be here. You don’t mind if I try up the air conditioning, do you? It is a bit warm in here and I don’t want to start melting.”
“I’m kind of indifferent to temperatures, so help yourself. I understand you’ve taken up a quest, as knights often do. Can you tell our listeners what kind of challenge you’re facing?”
“Lady Sweet and I own a chocolate factory where we make chocolate goodies, sugar mice and other sugar decorations that we sell in our…
View original post 1,172 more words
This post originally went live on August 21.
Yahoo Image Search (Told this is from Blackbooks)
Now, I’ve been asked a few times why I don’t write much about the writing craft. I probably have done more than I realize over the years. Mostly, I write about character and world-building things since those are my favorite topics. Haven’t gone into much with the marketing and Amazon side. One reason for the later is because I’ve seen tons of authors tackle the challenge of explaining Amazon and most of them disappeared. There’s a real obsession with figuring out the tricks and hidden workings, but those things probably change every month. Besides, hard to write a new book or promote a published one if you’re spending most of your time analyzing Amazon.
There are a few reasons that I don’t really do a lot of craft-based posts:
Maybe I’ll figure out a few craft posts in the future, but that could be by accident. So, I’ll open the floor to authors and readers. What is the one piece of writing craft that you would like to read about? Perhaps you’ll see a comment asking about something that you know about, so interact. Let’s just have fun.
Here’s another set of characters from Legends of Windemere drawn by Kayla Matt. I put them in a slideshow for space and hope everyone enjoys.
(This whole thing was a lot more difficult than I realized it would be. A lot of the top 5 ended up being promos that didn’t work any more. So, I stuck with things that were topics for conversation and posted originally in 2017. This was off views.)
This post originally went live on July 24th.
Yahoo Image Search
With The Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks, I’ve stepped more into short stories than I did before. Normally, I’m more of a novelist with a love of series as you can tell from Legends of Windemere. I dabbled a bit because you can’t get away with full-length novels in English classes. You have to keep things short and tight since there are multiple students to grade. Now, would I say one is better than the other? No because they each have their own strengths and weakness. Here are some from my own experience, which I’ll admit is limited.
Short Stories
Pro– Takes less time to outline, write, and edit. This makes it a great project when I have limited time and want to flex the imagination.
Con– Too many plot twists can ruin it because of the short length. I love throwing curve balls and surprises, but I can only do 1-2 in a short story. Otherwise, the plot collapses and the effect of the twists disappears.
Pro– Helps focus on one character that might be overshadowed in a longer work. The limited time and page amount means I can’t wander off to investigate another character or a fleeting idea. The protagonists need to remain the focus.
Con– A single short story is hard to rationalize for buying cover art and publishing. This is more about the return since a single short story shouldn’t really be priced higher than 99 cents. You won’t make your money back here. Doing a collection can help, but then you’re pricing higher.
Pro– You can experiment with short stories more than in a novel. I can test out monsters, traps, style changes, and other things that I’m not sure about for a novel. Some of these require that the short story be in the same world as the novels though.
Con– Limited page amount means my imagination can work against me. My typical desire to follow every rabbit hole and see how the network connects could turn a short story into a messy novel. So, I have to rein myself in at times.
Pro– Readers need less time to read the book. Self-explanatory.
Novels
Pro– More space for developing characters and world-building. This is the big one for me because I love this part of writing. Short stories can do this if you only have one protagonist to work with, but a group can flourish better in a bigger work.
Con– Takes longer to outline, write, and edit. You can’t just do a novel on a whim even if you’re a pantser. It takes more time that you have to carve out and I’m talking more than a 15-30 minute period. Novels require longer stretches of time and a more winding continuity that you have to keep in mind. The more breaks, the higher the chance of derailing.
Pro– You can let your imagination run wild at times because you aren’t trying to keep the story in a small page amount. Adding 15 pages because you found a spot where the hero can deal with a side problem that connects to the plot is okay. You don’t have to feel like you’re casting good ideas aside and hoping something else will come along to absorb them.
Con– The longer length means you have a higher chance of making a mistake. The wide and expansive nature of a novel requires that the author remembering everything that happened previously. Even a stand-alone needs you to connect the events of Chapter 12 to Chapter 1 without leaving any gaps. It’s easy to get lost in your own ideas as you travel along the path.
Pro– You can pull more excerpts, quotes, and topics for promotions. There is less of a worry about spoilers since you have more to work with. Even if something slips out, there’s a higher chance of missing context turning it into a mystery. You can stretch out a novel’s promotion for a lot longer than a short story.
Con– Just as the author needs time to write it, the readers need to invest more time in a novel than a short story. Attention spans are shorter these days and it seems like everybody is wishing they had more time to read. So they gravitate toward short stories and graphic novels.
Pro– You can have a more winding character and plot development since you have more time. A short story can only have so many rises and dips, but a novel is able to have as many as are needed. For example, a hero in a short story getting betrayed halfway through probably won’t have much time to escape, train, and/or get revenge as well as finish the original quest. It can feel rushed while a novel can show it all at a slower pace.
Final Thoughts
I’ve found that I do prefer novels for some ideas and that’s my more comfortable wheelhouse. Yet, I also like the use of short stories in a compilation format. I’m looking at a few series that were giving me problems and putting them in a short story compilation style. I think it helps a lot with series that aren’t as endgame-focused as Legends of Windemere. Characters who are going about their business being heroes can be put in a book where every short story is a new enemy to fight. Hopefully, this is the key to solving my superhero problem and giving Ichabod Brooks a few more outings.
Legends of Windemere 