Month: July 2012

Are You Pro Prologues? (Baby Got Backstory, Part II)

Last week we talked about backstory, how much is too much and nifty ways to use it. What about a prologue? Should you have one? Is it a great way to lay down a lot of background up front? Or will readers just buzz past it to get to Chapter One? Does all that backstory make my butt look big? No. Don’t answer that one.

However, there is no right or wrong answer about prologues. There is only Elmore Leonard and he is to blame. Well, not really. But that’s what happens when a popular author does something relatively bold – starts in the meat of the action and is successful at it – that gets writers thinking they have to do the same thing and readers thinking that most stories should start in the middle of a hostage situation. Continue reading “Are You Pro Prologues? (Baby Got Backstory, Part II)”

Video Trailer: Joe Café by JD Mader

The murder at Joe Café is an abomination. It stops the entire universe. For Michael, it tarnishes everything, including his badge. For Chet and his hostage, it is the beginning of a chase that will lead them through dingy motels and the darkest corridors of their minds. Dogan just wants Sara back. Jimmy the Cat wants to make up for all the time he has wasted. Frankie wants to live a ‘moral’ life, erasing everyone in his path who does not live up to his standards. Conventional notions of good and evil quickly blur as they are all forced to look into the mirrors they have avoided for so long. Chilling and horrifying, whimsical and wretched, Joe Café’s cast of broken characters try to find their way in a world they never understood to begin with…for the Chens, it is easy. They are dead.


Joe Café by JD Mader is available from Amazon.com.

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Spunky’s Present to You – Encore

Dali and his pet Ocelot.

[L.A. Lewandowski will be back next week with another new, classy installment of her column. Meanwhile, enjoy Spunky’s Present to You. – the Editor]

The first writer’s blog that I read was written by the woman who would end up editing my first novel. In a particularly excellent post, she discussed at length the need to layer your characters – to give them strengths and weaknesses, good and evil motivations, and to otherwise make them as believably flawed as any human you might know. Annoying habits and pet peeves add depth, she postulated, and these idiosyncratic traits will make the character more believable. I’ve kept this post in my head as I develop my characters, and I’ve created a couple of doozies. In true Lois fashion, however, I would like to add a stylish twist to my mentor’s essay – when you want to give your reader a real clue as to what makes your character tick, give the character a pet. Continue reading “Spunky’s Present to You – Encore”

Sneak Peek: The Judas Syndrome – Book One

the judas syndromeToday we have a sneak peek from Michael Poeltl’s dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel, The Judas Syndrome – Book One:

Joel and his friends are on the verge of graduation and excited and optimistic about their futures. But when they return from a camping trip in the remote woodlands to find themselves faced with a post-apocalyptic world, their daily lives acquire burdens and terrors hitherto unexperienced.

The Judas Syndrome is an unforgettable portrait of survival against the odds. Joel, the protagonist, is an average teen whose dreams of entering college in the fall have disintegrated with the rest of the civilized world.

The Judas Syndrome – Book One is available through Amazon.com, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble. Continue reading “Sneak Peek: The Judas Syndrome – Book One”