Category: A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow

A Fantasy Life

By Janet Quinn Cornelow

I have a new book coming out from Whiskey Creek Press in September. Wanted: True Love is a contemporary, fantasy romance. Bree-Anna, the heroine, is a witch coming up on her 200th birthday and needs to find true love to break a curse that was put on her by Gerard, a warlock. Unfortunately, every time Bree-Anna thinks she has found true love, Gerard steps in and something untoward happens to her suitor. Now she has met Quint. A hunk that she can really go for, if she can keep Gerard away from him. She only has two weeks to make Quint fall in love with her. And she can’t use her magic.

I have finished the galley and now I am waiting for the new cover. It just doesn’t feel finished without a cover and I have nothing to put up for a picture this month because I don’t have a cover.

I am still recovering from hurting my back and have gotten no writing done. I went to the movies yesterday and am paying for it today. My back does not like sitting for long times without moving. That could be why I am not getting much writing done.

A Fantasy Life

By Janet Quinn Cornelow

I have spent most of the last six weeks on the couch watching reruns because I pinched a nerve in my back and couldn’t do much else.

It amazes me how many writers there are in different series. They all seem to write mysteries and make a great deal of money with their first books. Maybe that is where people get the idea if they write a book they are going to make enough money to quit their day jobs.

In Bones, Temperance Brenner’s publisher gave her a sports car and complete strangers ask her about her books. In NCIS, McGee wrote a book and now has money and can get into places that only let in the rich and famous. Both of them used their coworkers as characters in their books.

Then there is Castle. He’s on a permanent ride-along with the police. He has his own bulletproof vest that says Writer on it. Like the police would let a civilian into crime scenes or when they are about to arrest someone at gun point.

Being a writer on television seems to be better than being a writer in real life. A fantasy we would all like to be part of.

Unfortunately, I haven’t done much else than watch television. I have two chapters to finish Sam’s story. I did edits and read the galley on my next book. Hopefully the next month will be better as my back gets better.

A Fantasy Life

by Janet Quinn Cornelow

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Me. I’ve been laid up with a pinched nerve in my back for the last week. Now, I am having a strange reaction to the pills they gave me and can’t breath.

However, I did want everyone to think I just forgot it was my day to blog, so this is it.

Have a great July 4th also.

A Fantasy Life

By Janet Quinn Cornelow

I went to see the new Star Trek movie. It was absolutely wonderful and I’m ready for the next one.

Star Trek of course is science fiction and going back and creating a story that came before means that there is a great deal of history that has accumulated over the years that needs to be followed. Taking an existing world and doing a prequel is always a challenge. The writer has to look at the accumulation of facts and make sure that the story follows those facts. With Star Trek, there is a great store of facts. After forty years, just about every aspect of life has been covered.

That, however, can be limiting as to what the writers want to do with the prequel. Do they want to stay with the type of stories from the original series? How can they make changes? Do they want to tell stories that won’t fit with what happened before? What if they want to put in an illicit love affair? What if they want to kill off a character that hadn’t died before?

This is where the fantasy comes in. Throw in time travel and you can change the timeline and how the characters act. The writers can now change the relationship between characters and make it something it wasn’t before.

That is the one thing a writer always has to think about when writing time travel. If she moves someone backward in time, one little change made by that character can change the entire time line. The results shift and a new ending can be written.

Also, they could bring back Leonard Nimoy as the older Mr. Spock.

A Fantasy Life

By Janet Quinn Cornelow

Debra Young, who some of you know and who has been my critique partner for years, went to the last OCC meeting with me to hear Blake Snyder. He was an interesting and entertaining speaker with a great deal of information. Because I couldn’t go home after the meeting – the Orange Oil Termite people were there and I’m allergic to oranges – Debra and I went out after the meeting. While eating banana splits and making ourselves sick, we talked about Snyder’s points.

Debra and I meet the third Saturday of every month, so I decided that we should take one of his suggestions to heart and make a headline and a movie poster for our current projects. Of course, since neither of us have the ability to actually draw or put a movie poster together, we were suppose to come up with just the idea.

Our meeting came and Debra had forgotten what I said to do and I hadn’t had time. My online classes had kept me very busy that week. So as we ate fajitas, we came up with headlines and movie poster concepts. It really makes a person think about what it is her story is about. It does clarify the concept so that it can be explained to someone else.

My current project is Sam, the never-ending-story. (After I finish him, it is onto an urban fantasy and slaying monsters.) For Freedom’s Treasure, we came up with – When love is at stake, freedom is the ultimate sacrifice.

Figuring what type of movie poster would attract attention and make someone interested in your story is a bit more complicated. It is like designing a cover for the book. I am terrible at that. I never know what I want on the front of my book. However, we did come up with something. Now I wish I knew how to make it so I could post it on my website. Sam is standing in the foreground, in chains, protecting Jubilee. In the background are fields with crops growing. Up on the left, smaller, are the slave hunters looking for Sam and Jubilee.

We decide on the chains because the first time Sam was introduced in The River’s Treasure, he was in chains. Although he isn’t literally in chains anymore, figuratively he is.

Debra and I did go over the bullet points that Snyder came up with. Me, I’m still stuck on the one that says theme. I used to be a high school English teacher and I still can’t do theme. Debra wasn’t any help on the point. I think I’ll just skip that one and keep going.