The Writing Life…
April 6, 2011 by Linda O. Johnston in category Pets, Romance & Lots of Suspense by Linda O. Johnston tagged as Berkley Prime Crime, Linda O. Johnston, Pet Rescue Mystery
… is busy!
And it’s not just book deadlines that are driving me nuts these days. I’ve taken on blog guest appearances in addition to my weekly post on Killer Hobbies and my monthly post here at A Slice of Orange.
Plus, I’ve thrown myself into pet rescue after all the research I’ve done and continue to do for my new Pet Rescue Mystery series, which started in March with BEAGLEMANIA. I volunteer weekly as a dog adoption counselor at a local private shelter, plus I’ve become the L.A. Pet Rescue Examiner. I have to admit that I haven’t been posting articles for the Examiner as often as I’d like, but I hope to remedy that–and in the meantime I’m collecting some good stuff to talk about there.

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| BEAGLEMANIA, March 2011 Berkley Prime Crime |

Linda O! Johnston
Visit Linda at LindaOJohnston.com
or http://killerhobbies.blogspot.com/
April Submissions
April 1, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Entangled Publishing, Louisa Bacio, Submissions
This month brings a diverse set of calls, and information on a few new publishers, including Entangled Publishing. Hopefully, you’ll find some inspiration …
Entangled Publishing, a new exclusive boutique publisher, is seeking novels and novellas in the following subgenres of romantic fiction for publication in August 2011 and beyond: Paranormal and Urban Fantasy, Contemporary, Romantic Thrillers, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Upper “YA†(17 to 22-year-old protagonists) that will appeal to crossover audiences.
Compensation: Ravenous Romance short story advance of $10, a copy of the anthology, plus a pro rata share of any revenue/subsidiary rights.
A Fantasy Life by Janet Quinn Cornelow
March 27, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category A Fantasy Life by Janet Cornelow tagged as Janet Cornelow, Janet Quinn
Writer’s Block!!
I think it started when I hurt my back last year. And, it seems to persist. Losing my job just seemed to make it worse.
I started a new fantasy romance this year. I wrote eight pages, which I somehow deleted along with the essays I was grading. It took me three weeks, but I finally managed to rewrite those eight pages, only it was more like six. I don’t know if it is better or just shorter. I got a bit further in the story, then I stopped.
It was February that I wrote those pages. The beginning of February and I am still at eight pages with no idea of what my characters are going to do next.
I have spent time building the universe. I know who my villain is and what he wants. I know why he does what he does. I know my hero and heroine and of course they have to stop the villain and fall in love. That is easy enough.
How they get to that point though, I have no idea. I was talking with Debra Young at lunch today about the problem. She often runs into this problem. My problem is that I always know what my characters are going to do next. Or at least they do. Now. Nothing.
It is very disconcerting. Someone better decided what has to happen next because all I am doing is grading papers and playing Mah Jong. There has to be a way to get this book moving forward.
10 Commandments of Grammar for Fiction Writers” with Grammar Divas – Annie Oortman & Darlene Buchholz
March 26, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Archives tagged as Online Class********** permission to forward **********
Hi everyone! Check out the exciting online classes offered by the
Orange County Chapter of RWA!
“10 Commandments of Grammar for Fiction Writersâ€
with Grammar Divas – Annie Oortman & Darlene Buchholz
April 11 – May 7, 2011
Love grammar? Hate grammar? Love to hate grammar?
Contrary to popular belief, grammar is not a sinister conspiracy plot designed by evil English teachers (the Grammar Gods) to ruin every writer in the free world’s fun by screwing with personal style. (Seriously, it’s not.)
However, good writing requires good grammar. Without it, you can’t really be sure your reader will understand the information you’re trying to convey, the story you’re trying to tell, and the mental picture you’re trying to paint. Which kind of defeats the purpose of fiction writing, right?
So what rules are the most important ones for a fiction writer to follow and which ones are kinda-follows? From subject-verb agreement to passive voice, faulty construction to misplaced modifiers, word choice and usage to quotation marks and commas, the Grammar Divas (an English teacher and a professional copywriter) sort through the all the rules and share in a fun yet informative way the ten most important grammar issues every fiction writer should understand and practice.
About the Instructors:
Grammar wasn’t Annie Oortman’s first love (actually, it was a cute boy in her second-grade class named Henry Talley) or even her second (avoiding barn work). However, after getting an A for content but an F for readability on a third-grade book report, she learned having great ideas was one thing, communicating them well on paper another. Annie became a disciple of the church of Proper Grammar. Nowadays, she aspires to become a romantic suspense author, diagrams sentences for fun (yes, for fun), and argues with Darlene on the acceptability of ending a sentence with a preposition. Don’t do it!
Darlene Buchholz fell in love in the first grade with a boy named Neil. He shared his crackers and milk at recess after someone took her snack and never got caught. By the third grade, she discovered Nancy Drew mysteries and developed a great passion for perky heroines who drove convertibles (proof they were in charge of their own lives). She’s written about romance and intrigue ever since. Darlene never thought of grammar as a challenge. It was, instead, a tool to help her express the ideas she felt passionate about, especially on the acceptability of ending a sentence with a preposition. Yes, you can!
Enrollment Information at http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclassApr11.html
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
Coming in May, 2011
“Some Like It Hotâ€
with Louisa Bacio
May 16 – June 11, 2011
Let’s talk about sex. Whether you’re writing a short story, novella or a full-length novel, an erotic thriller, paranormal or historical romance, the basics of the Erotic Romance remain the same: it’s all about plot and keeping it hot.
This workshop will cover the basics of characterization and motivation, and then delve into the heart: The sex scene(s). When writing about the physical aspects of love, it takes more than the cliché of “putting tab A into slot B.†The love scenes need to come organically from the work that’s being created, and the reader needs to believe in the connection.
Adult Content: Note that with the subject matter of this workshop, the language may become explicit. Come with an open mind, and be prepared to learn.
Erotic romance writer Louisa Bacio released her full-length novel PHYSICAL EDUCATION through Ravenous Romance and to quote Happily Ever After Reviews: “Ms. Bacio cleverly crafts a world of wicked pleasure and mystery that pulls the reader into this erotic thriller.†She’s currently working on an erotic paranormal set in New Orleans, and a sequel to Physical Education.
COST: $20 for OCC members, $30 for non-members
http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html Check out our full list of workshops.
Want to be notified personally two weeks before each class? Be sure you’re signed up for our Online Class Notices Yahoo Group!
Sign up at the bottom of http://www.occrwa.org/onlineclasses.html
or send a blank email to OCCRWAOnlineClassNotices-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
********** permission to forward **********
Bigger Books and Themes
March 25, 2011 by A Slice of Orange in category Lyon's Lair tagged as books, Jennifer Lyon, Lyon's Lair, themesby Jennifer Lyon
A friend and I were discussing what makes a “bigger†book. There’s no real definition for bigger, but the one thing I can guarantee you is that it’s not word count. Words are a tool to tell a story, they are NOT the story.
So what is “bigger?†I think it comes down to universal themes that resonate with a larger audience.
For instance, in the Harlequin/Silhouette category books, like Desire, Special Edition, Super Romance, etc, the writing is tightly focused on the emotions of falling in love, and therefore, limits the audience. That does NOT make these books any less enjoyable, it just narrows the audience.
But a bigger book has more ‘commercial’ themes. As an example, let’s talk about the movie Ghost. It works the same in books or movies, and my husband and I just watched it over the weekend so it’s fresh in my mind. The movie has been out for something like 20 years, yet it has a timeless quality to it, and I think that’s because of its themes.
The sudden loss of a loved one. Every person has or will experience this.
What happens when we die? Look at all the books, movies, religions and philosophies dedicated to trying to explain it.
Can a dead loved one reach us? Can we reach them? There’s a whole industry of psychics and others making money off “contacting the dead.†The emotional fragility of grieving will make even the strongest of us reach for any flicker of hope.
Letting go of a loved one. There’s many shades to this one. In the movie, it was time for the hero and heroine to let go of each other so the hero could move on. I had a moment like that with my mom at the very end of her life. She was so sick and I remember the moment clearly where I finally closed my eyes and said to my deceased brother; “You can have her now. Anything to stop her pain.†I was ready to let her go and she passed soon after that.
Betrayal by a friend. In the movie, the hero is betrayed by someone he knows and trusts. Who hasn’t at least seen that happen if not experienced it?
These themes touch all of us, helping us to relate to the movie or book on a personal, intimate level. And that helps create a bigger feel to the book.
In my books, I try to find these universal themes. It’s even more important, I think, because I’m writing paranormal. In NIGHT MAGIC, my heroine, Ailish, is handfasted to a demon and has two weeks to either complete the bond and become a demon witch (who is evil), or she dies.
Now I doubt many of us have ever been in that predicament. But the core theme there is something like: Can a good person be betrayed or tricked into becoming evil? That’s a pretty timeless theme, one that religions have explored and argued since the beginning of time. These themes spin off into more:
Betrayal: Ailish trusted her mother, and she betrayed her.
Redemption: Can Ailish atone for a mistake she made when she was 16?
Handicap: Ailish is blind, something that I believe really humanizes her.
Can she face her own death?
How far will the man who loves her go to save her?
I’m using the idea of “themes†here loosely, but these are the universal concepts that we have some familiarity with and therefore connect us to the characters strongly enough to feel like we’re in their skin. We understand their struggles and conflicts.
P.S. NIGHT MAGIC, the third book in my Wing Slayer Hunter Series went on sale March 22nd, and the forth book SINFUL MAGIC will be out May 31st.
Jennifer Lyon always wanted to be a witch. When her witch-powers didn’t materialize, she turned to creating magic in her books. NIGHT MAGIC is the third book in an enchanting, passionate and supernatural series. Jen’s also has a super secret alter ego known as Jennifer Apodaca, the author of the award winning Samantha Shaw Mystery Series. Visit Jen at http://www.jenniferlyonbooks.com/
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