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Of Edits and Covers and other Minutiae

March 19, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , ,

by
Monica Stoner, Member at Large
I continue to be amazed to read “no one edits books anymore.” Mind you, I have read quite a few books that don’t seem to be edited at all. But it’s hard to say if the books were not edited or maybe they just were not edited well.  However that works, I do know some publishers do still edit submissions, and state so quite clearly in their websites.
I can only personally speak of my own publisher, Black Opal Books.  My books have received three edits: one for spelling and basic grammar, one for syntax and style, and a final review by the lead editor.  Each time the book comes back to me, I read it from beginning to end, considering the suggestions, made some of my own, and along the way found even more places where words could be replaced, eliminated, polished.  This after what I thought was an intensive rewrite.  There really is always room for improvement.
And how many times are we told: “The author has no control over the title, the cover, the blurb, or anything else to do with their book but the actual words?”  Lucky me, I have not experienced this situation.  The cover for My Killer My Love was collaboration between me and another Black Opal Books author.  I had the face I wanted to use (see image on the right) and I knew I wanted the face “haunting” an ancient forest.  



For my upcoming book, the edits made Teach Me To Forget more poignant than I had ever imagined it could be.  The blurb was a matter of a few messages between Lauri Wellington, editor extraordinaire, and me.  But I could NOT come up with any sort of cover.  Too many scenes crowded into my head: Bethany’s travesty of a wedding, her later success as a feature writer, her Irish setter, or Jonathan’s past life as a jet setter, his new life as a nature photographer.  Any of those would have been a decent cover, but none sang to me.  So I admitted defeat, and asked for help.  Within a day, I received this cover:
Okay, so Jonathan and Bethany never really got it on in the middle of the woods.  But for such a pretty cover, I think we can allow a little poetic license.
Teach Me To Forget will available in e-book format May, 2012 from Black Opal Books.  
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WHAT A CHARACTER!

March 15, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , ,

One of the nicest compliments I ever received was from a reviewer who called “Josie Bates (heroine of my witness series) one of the best characters ever”. For an author, that is the highest praise.

Think about the millions of words written about thousands of fictional people, and then ask yourself how many stuck in your mind, reside in your heart, or continue to haunt you years after reading the book? If you’re like me, there are a handful of such characters in your memory. My list includes:

Gone With the Wind: Scarlett O’Hara, Rhett Butler and Miss Mellie.

Princess Bride: Buttercup, Inigo Montoya, Westley

The Hunger Games: Katniss

Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Lisabeth Salander

Johnny Oops: Johnny Oops (a fine Indie book)

Analyzing these characters helped me become a better writer, and here’s what I have learned. Memorable characters are:

Spiritually Unique: Villain or hero, each one has his or her own demons and desires, strengths and weaknesses. Strength on its own is uninteresting without weakness.

Physically identifiable: A great character manifests his or her uniqueness in dress, mannerisms, and speech patterns. Imagine an actor tackling your character on screen. Can you hear them? See them? Are they so real you would know them walking down the street?

Logical: A character with a unique speech pattern may amuse your reader for a while but if the words coming out of that character’s mouth aren’t appropriate to story, plot and core of that character, the affectations is illogical.

Unapologetic: Readers may not always embrace your vision, but if you give a character an unusual life, let them live it. Do not be swayed by fear of political incorrectness or tempted to take the safe route. Writing is about nurturing your bold voice.

Purposeful: A character’s journey is guided by principles born of experiences. In Josie Bates’ case, she is formed by her mother’s abandonment (personal) and her belief that the law and justice are two separate things (professional). The author’s objective is to create a passionate character who is willing to go to great lengths to protect what they believe in or secure what they desire.

For Example…

• Katniss’s (Hunger Games) and Scarlett’s (Gone With the Wind) fight for basic survival.

• Westley’s (Princess Bride) relentless search for his lost and true love.

• Salandar’s (Dragon Tattoo) desperate desire for self-determination.

• Rhett Butler’s (Gone With the Wind) code of honesty.

• Melanie’s (Gone with the Wind) passionate belief in Scarlett’s inherent goodness.

• Johnny Oops’ (Johnny Oops) wry but heartfelt search to define his teenage self.

Don’t be afraid to refine your characters. We are not born the people we will become; neither are those who populate your books. Nurture them, define them, polish them and they will live in the reader’s memory for a very long time.

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My Author Crush Faves

March 9, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

What a great month! I love Author Crush month at Routines for Writers. There is always someone you never heard of who becomes a new fave. I might’ve picked up three new favorites!
After reading Cat Weatherill’s blog post, I downloaded the Kindle sample of her book Wild Magic and fell in love! I absolutely must buy her book! Just reading a few pages of it, I became immersed in not just a magical story world, but an overwhelming sense of magic washing over me. I stopped reading several times and asked myself, how did she do that?! I’m totally going to keep reading and try to figure it out. I want my books to instill that sense of the magical!
Similarly, when I read the Kindle sample for Stephanie S. Saunders’ Villain School: Good Curses Evil, I was laughing out loud more than I was reading silently! Another must-buy for me!
The title alone made me curious about PJ Sharon’s upcoming release, Savage Cinderella. But reading the blurb on it, I’m hooked. I’ve got to give that one a try as soon as it comes out! (Release day is March 15.)
The rest of the posts this month had all kinds of new and interesting thoughts to consider.
James Scott Bell made me wonder if should give a little more thought to writing short stories. Hmm, something to think about.
Reading Jacqueline Diamond’s post about making her own book covers made me want to give it a try, if only for the fun of it.
Art Holcomb gave me a lot to think about with his thoughts on plotting the larger arc for a series, and how I need to stay enthusiastic about my story in order to write a great book.
Thanks to Gail Carson Levine, I am more determined to write wherever I have to, whenever I have to. I was ten minutes early for Bible study this week, so I turned on the inside light in the car, and wrote another few lines of my latest short story.
Debra Holland’s self-publishing journey is always inspiring, no matter how many times I read about it. Go Debra!
I loved that I’m not the only one who picks out just the right pretty or quirky notebook for my next story. Thanks, Nancy Rue!
And Stephanie’s posts about the books she’s reading that help her in her journey toward healing – well, I admire her so much for making it a public journey so that others might be helped as well.
Even though they aren’t really part of Author Crush month, per se, I also am tickled to death that my dear friends Janice Cantore, Lauraine Snelling and Kathleen Damp Wright put bookends to our month with fantastic tales of newly published novels!
Ahh, what a great month! I always feel so refreshed and excited and motivated by March 1! I hope you take a look at some of these posts and get inspired, too! 🙂
P.S. Remember to tune in to Routines for Writers on the first Tuesday of each month and welcome our new monthly contributor, Jamie Raintree!


Kitty Bucholtz decided to combine her undergraduate degree in business, her years of experience in accounting and finance, and her graduate degree in creative writing to become a writer-turned-independent-publisher. Her first novel, Little Miss Lovesick, was released in September 2011 as an ebook and will be available soon in print format. Kitty has also written magazine articles, devotionals, and worked as a magazine editor. She is the co-founder of Routines for Writers where she blogs every Monday. Her next novel, Love at the Fluff N Fold, will be released in Spring 2012.
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Things That Make Me Go Mmmruh!

March 7, 2012 by in category Archives tagged as ,

The Essence of an Idol


You once thought of me

As a white knight on his steed

Now you know how happy I can be…



I never watched The Monkees, not even one episode. Ever. But on the evening of February 29, a weird thing happened to me. I was driving when the radio announced the sudden death of Davy Jones. The Monkee, I knew that much. Huh, he died? Then NPR played a snippet of one of his songs, and this voice, so young, so adorable, wafted through my dark car. Suddenly, I was choked with tears. The man behind this fresh young voice, clear as bell, was gone?
That night, curious about my own largely unaccountable grief, I went to the computer and started looking some things up. First, the lyrics to “Daydream Believer,” the tune of which I couldn’t get out of my head.
It’s about a couple.
Composer John Stewart (of Kingston Trio fame) weaves dreamy metaphor into achingly familiar concrete detail to tell a beautiful love story: after the initial surge of romance ebbs and the tedium of life sets in, what you have left, when you’re with the right person, is everyday happiness.
Mmmruh!
Since the song got to me so much, I clicked on the Monkees video. And gosh I just fell head over heels in love with Davy Jones, the cute scamp singing about true love and core-deep contentment. His effortless exuberance makes me feel giddy and warm and fuzzy about the love in my life. He reminds me that bills to pay and other annoying obligations can hardly wear down daydream believers such as myself and my white knight. And I could see what his impish performance could do to a young woman: this adorable singer makes each girl listening believe that she could be The One in his life to bring him sweet joy despite anything, no matter what. He cracks open the possibility that such love is possible in anyone’s life.
That’s the essence of an idol: an idol lets you touch the magic – the magic within your own life, within your own soul. Kudos, Davy Jones.
Like moonbeams and the distant echo of a train whistle, idols possess the uncanny ability to make us go mmmruh. How do they do it? Not really sure. But I like the way it feels, this tapping of my deepest emotions.
The essence of an idol – if only we could package it, to take out and savor, again and again, whenever we wanted! But wait – it has been packaged, countless times. Just find that dog-eared copy of your favorite romance novel, and you’ll know what I mean.



-Geralyn Ruane

Lifelong believer in daydreams and idolizer of heartthrobs since 1977.






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The Writing Life and More!

March 6, 2012 by in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston, Writing tagged as , , ,

I used to believe that writers just wrote. And then I really became one.

That’s when I found out that there’s a lot more to writing than just sitting at a computer and composing a story, then, hopefully, selling it.

The writing life, when you’re not writing, can even be fun and exciting. How? Because of all the events relating to it.

First of all, there are meetings of local writing organizations. As you know, this year I’m co-coordinator of OCC’s morning Published Authors Workshop, along with Charlotte Lobb. That means attending as many monthly OCC meetings as possible. I also attend meetings of other local chapters of writing organizations such as the Los Angeles Romance Authors, Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.

Then there are other library events. This month, I’ll be on a mystery panel at the Ojai Library. Next month, I’ll be appearing as part of the Fresno Library’s Big Read event about Jack London’s CALL OF THE WILD–and will be speaking to the local Sisters in Crime chapter. This is a result of my writing so much about animals, both in my Harlequin Nocturnes about shapeshifters and my Pet Rescue Mysteries.

Other kinds of book events include the very first LitFest Pasadena on St. Patrick’s day this month. Yes, I’ll be there, signing at the Book ‘Em Mysteries booth. The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on occurs in April and I’ll be signing at several booths there, too.

Conferences? Yes! How about Malice Domestic, in Bethesda, MD–followed by the Festival of Mystery in Oakmont, PA? And of course there’s the Romance Writers of America National Conference at the end of July. Among other things I’m looking forward to there, I’ll be on a panel there about How to Sell a Series You’re Passionate About. There are other conferences I’m interested in but can’t attend because of time–a lot of them!

Am I done yet? Not quite! World Book Night is April 23, and I’ll be giving away copies of Sue Grafton’s Q IS FOR QUARRY.

And I haven’t listed all my upcoming blogs and guest blogs. In addition, I belong to a critique group which is always a fun get-together nearly every week to discuss family, events in our lives and, yes, critique each other’s writing. Plus, there are other things that’ll be happening but aren’t yet for publication.

So… writing isn’t all there is to the writing life, is it?

How about you–what events and meetings are you attending that fit along with your writing?


Linda O Johnston’s Pet Rescue Mysteries, a spinoff from her Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime, feature Lauren Vancouver, a determined pet rescuer who runs a no-kill shelter. Of course, in this cozy mystery series, “no-kill” refers to the animals, not people! Her most recent Pet Rescue Mystery is   THE MORE THE TERRIER , and next will be  HOUNDS ABOUND , an April 2012 release.

Visit Linda at www.LindaOJohnston.com  or KillerHobbies.blogspot.com



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