Month: May 2012

Featured Author: J.L. Murray

Author J.L. Murray

J.L. Murray was born in a brothel in Amsterdam, and at the age of three was adopted by a roving band of literary gypsies. They taught her to smoke, drink whiskey, and wax poetic by the age of five, and taking the reins, J.L. started writing on a typewriter she found in a dumpster.

She can be found these days at her writing blog, http://jlmurraywrites.blogspot.com/. She is also known to frequent the popular short story site, http://blergpop.com/, where her edgier short stories can be found.

J.L. is the bestselling author of the Niki Slobodian novels Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and The Devil Is a Gentleman, as well as the upcoming zombie parable, The Drilling Fields, out Fall 2012.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Niki Slobodian sees things — things that aren’t supposed to be there. Labeled an Abnormal by New Government, her name is tacked onto the Registry, which seems to be getting longer these days. Now she can’t work or she’ll end up the same place as her father: in prison. But with no money coming in, Niki’s getting desperate.

So when a mysterious client offers to get her off the Registry in exchange for taking his case, Niki jumps at the chance. All she has to do is round up a homicidal Dark that’s escaped from Hell and is cruising around the city in borrowed bodies. The murders are piling up, with Niki’s notorious father somehow involved, and Niki’s running out of time. And it seems the Dark isn’t the only thing that escaped…

 This title is available from Amazon.

In the E-reader era…

I saw this article in my local newspaper – http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/in-e-reader-age-of-writers-cramp-a-book-a-year-is-slacking.html – borrowed from the New York Times – and I just shook my head. I feel for the writers who commented, really I do. The notion of having to write a novel a year? That’s tough. (Just look at James Patterson. Oh… bad example.)

It’s also an artificial construct. In other words, a lie.

I admire all the writers mentioned, and I do feel bad for them if they feel they have to write 2000 words a day 7 days a week. That’s a lot of words. 730,000 to be precise.  That’s the equivalent of two epic fantasies and a few novels. So, I feel bad.

After all, it’s partly my fault, and the fault of a friend of mine. She writes at least three series for a mid-level publisher and puts out the equivalent of two books a month, much less a year. Her erotic novels put her on the USA Today bestseller list.

Of course, I do have to point out that the one novel a year concept is a creation of the publisher, not the writer. Continue reading “In the E-reader era…”

MOVE IT OR LOSE IT

Author Lin Robinson

Having dwelled, last month, on several posts about “rules” and concepts I advised writers to ignore or at least salt down, I thought I should balance it with some more positive material; tips to help writers work better. It surprises many to learn that I actually have a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. From the University of Washington, to be precise: Go Huskies! But I learned more while writing for a living: meeting deadlines for newspapers, pressure to write better than the staff on magazines, measuring copy against sales figures for catalogs. And in all those classes and decades of exposure to pro writers, I only picked up a bare handful of tips that I feel are useful enough to pass along to others. So, since I rate in top echelons of truly wonderful guys, that’s what I’m going to do. These are things that actually help and actually work. They are additive, rather than prohibitive tips, ranging from truly simplistic to fairly arcane. And both kind of mystical.

I’ll start out at the simple end of the scale, with something that might just seem silly to many. But for some reason it works. I first heard it from the editor of an Army newspaper, and later, almost word for word, while interviewing a great American writer, the late Ross Thomas. Here goes. Continue reading “MOVE IT OR LOSE IT”

Week 20 Flash Fiction Challenge Poll

The time has arrived for IU readers to begin voting in this week’s Flash Fiction Competition. On behalf of the IU staff, I want to thank all the entrants for doing such a great job with the writing prompt and the merciless constraints of the exercise.

This week, there are 9 entries from which to choose. You may review the entries here. Please spread the word and encourage your friends to vote by using the share buttons at the bottom of the post!

The poll will be open until 5:00 PM (Pacific Daylight Time) Thursday

Select your favorite entry for the week 20 Flash Fiction Challenge: First Impressions

  • Donna B. McNicol (25%, 8 Votes)
  • Ed Drury (22%, 7 Votes)
  • Ben Steele (19%, 6 Votes)
  • Brian Beam (9%, 3 Votes)
  • RG Bud Phelps (6%, 2 Votes)
  • Mike Boggia (6%, 2 Votes)
  • Rich Meyer (6%, 2 Votes)
  • Elisavietta Ritchie (3%, 1 Votes)
  • A. L. Kaplan (3%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 32

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